Chinese companies fake Taiwanese company's brand to avoid sanctions
Chinese companies supplying servos for Shahed guided bombs and drones to Russia are illegally using the name of the Taiwanese company TRC to avoid sanctions.
Here's What We Know
According to civil society activist Vadym Labas, the investigation showed that the real manufacturer of these servos is the Chinese KST Digital Technology Limited. Its products go through a multi-stage rebranding process through fake companies in China, and then go to Russian companies through intermediaries.
The investigation revealed that although the name of the Taiwanese company appears in the procurement documents, the real TRC company is not related to these spare parts. The real manufacturer of the servos was the Chinese company KST Digital Technology Limited.
An HS20 servo from KST Digital Technology Limited. Illustration: Vadym Labas
In particular, the HS20 servos used in UMPC's modular guided bombs are supplied through Kaiffeng Zhendaqian Technology (KZT) and UNIHUI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, which change the documents in favour of the TRC brand. Russian gasket companies such as Omni Trade and Dimir Trade are also involved.
Since this company also supplies a significant part of its products to the US and EU markets, a multi-stage product disguise scheme was developed to avoid sanctions. First, the products of the KST plant are formally sold to a fake Chinese manufacturing company called Kaiffeng Zhendaqian Technology (KZT).
After that, KZT formally sells the goods to another Chinese company, UNIHUI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, while changing the branding to TRC.
Confirmation of the company name change. Illustration: Vadym Labas
The published documents show that during the transfer of components through various intermediary companies, the name of the manufacturing company changes, but the marking of the servo model remains unchanged.
Further, with the involvement of another intermediary company, Shenzhen Biosen Bio-Tech, the products are transferred to Russian intermediary companies Omni Trade and Dimir Trade. It is noted that Dimir Trade is a newly created clone of Dimir, which is already under sanctions.
A document confirming payment for goods. Illustration: Vadym Labas
As a result, the components end up at TRV-Engineering, a company that procures for the Russian arms company Tactical Missile Arms Corporation.
The civil society activist emphasises that such a complex double rebranding scheme is unique and has never been analysed by experts before. However, it is already known that it is used for other critical components intended for the Russian military-industrial complex, in particular under the TRC brand.
Source: Vadym Labas
