Paper trail in Beirut explosion winds back to London address used by shell companies

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Investigation shows the ammonium nitrate was owned by a company that shared a central London location with other shell companies, some with Russian, Syrian ties

There isn’t much reason to visit 13 John Prince’s St., an unfamous address just a minute’s walk from the Oxford Circus subway station, in the heart of London’s shopping district.

The ammonium nitrate was then loaded onto a decrepit cargo ship whose ownership, like Savaro’s, was intentionally obscured through a series of shell companies. Though the ship’s declared destination was Mozambique, it made an emergency stop in Beirut in November, 2013, where the volatile cargo remained until the explosion.

There are clues, however, buried in the paperwork filed with Companies House, the online database of companies registered in Britain. In several places in the company’s filings, Savaro named another company called Alpha Commerce as its “presenter” – the legal entity handling its paperwork.The Globe first visited Alpha Commerce’s office on the fourth floor of 13 John Prince’s St. in 2016.

Mr. Strukov, through a letter from his lawyers, has since denied telling The Globe that he remembers the creation of Multiserv, or that he made a special trip to Moscow for it. The Globe called Alpha Commerce several times last week, and left voicemails, but got no reply. A junior employee of Bombardier Transportation Sweden – a unit of Bombardier Transportation, which last month was acquired by Alstom SA of France – was acquitted of bribery charges by a Swedish court in 2017. Swedish prosecutors are appealing that decision, and at least one other indictment of a former Bombardier executive is expected in connection with the case.

“This doesn’t happen by accident, three shell companies moving their addresses on the same day,” said Feras Hatoum, a Lebanese filmmaker whose documentaries have revealed the apparent connections between Savaro and the Russian-Syrian businessmen. “The more links you find, the more you can show the companies are run by the same person.”

 

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