Bombardier confirms its Russian offices were visited by customs officials

MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. said Monday that the offices of its Russian railway joint venture were visited earlier this month by the country’s authorities, several months after a published report said its offices were raided by police.

Spokesman Simon Letendre said the offices were visited on April 2 by a unit of the Moscow Region Customs.

“As always, we will co-operate with any investigation and update our stakeholders as appropriate,” he wrote in an email.

However, he did not address a Globe and Mail report published early Monday describing a police raid in October as part of a criminal probe into allegations of corruption  related to the procurement of railway equipment.

The report said a Bombardier-controlled joint venture in Russia received at least five police summons since the probe began in the fall, citing official Russian documents.

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In October, Sweden appealed the acquittal of a Russian employee in the Swedish branch of train maker Bombardier for aggravated bribery in one of the country’s biggest corruption cases to date.

The Stockholm District Court had said “it could not be proven” that Evgeny Pavlov, an employee of Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB, “has promised or offered an unfair advantage, which is a prerequisite for the existence of a bribe.”

Pavlov had been accused of bribery to win a contract for a signalling system with a contract value of around US$340 million. He was facing a six-year jail sentence and deportation.

At the time, Bombardier denied any allegation of criminal wrongdoing.

In 2013, Bombardier was part of a consortium awarded a contract to supply signalling equipment for a 500-kilometre (300-mile) track along a corridor connecting Asia and Europe to Azerbaijan Railways.

Emails seized in October 2016 during a search of Bombardier offices in Sweden were considered evidence in the case.

Swedish news agency TT and broadcaster SVT said their investigation showed Bombardier had sold the signal system via Multiserv Overseas, which then sold the identical equipment back to Bombardier’s Azerbaijan affiliate for an inflated price.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BBD.B)

Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press