The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has added the Chinese automotive company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd, known as Geely, to the list of international sponsors of the war. As with Great Wall Motor, this automaker continues to operate in the Russian market and pay taxes there.

Geely continues to pay taxes to Russia's budget, actively support its economy and, accordingly, sponsor aggression against Ukraine at a time when most car manufacturers from Europe, Japan and Korea have stopped selling on the Russian market after the invasion of Ukraine. This was reported by the NAPC.

Geely is a private company owned by billionaire entrepreneur Li Shufu and owns several brands. In particular, Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Lotus, London Electric Vehicle Company, Farizon Auto, CAOCAO Mobility.

Daniel Li, CEO of Geely Holding Company, said he did not want to tell his companies to leave the Russian market. "I don't understand why we should force each of our car brands to punish the Russian customer," he said at the FT Future of the Car summit. He personally supported Geely's decision to increase car sales in Russia after global competitors withdrew from the market following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the first three months of 2023, sales of Geely vehicles in Russia more than doubled year-on-year, from 5,543 units to 12,673 units.

The distributor of the Geely brand in the Russian market is Gilli-Motors LLC, whose revenue in 2022 increased by 82% to USD 800 million, net profit increased by 8% to USD 1.5 billion. Net profit increased by 5105% to $201 million, and the company paid more than $51.4 million in taxes to the budget. THE COMPANY'S NET PROFIT GREW BY 105% TO $201 MILLION, AND TAXES WERE PAID TO THE BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF OVER $51.4 MILLION.

The company continues to introduce and sell new models of its branded cars in Russia. As of May 2023, Geely's network of authorised dealers is represented in 89 Russian cities and has 157 dealerships. There have been no attempts by the company's management to condemn Russia's war against Ukraine.

Additionally:

  • Geely became the second automaker from China to be included in the list of international sponsors of the war because of its continued operations in Russia. Earlier, the NACP added Great Wall Motor to the list.
  • The listing of international sponsors of war is a reputational tool. The NACP points out that all companies on the list are entered into the World-Check database, which keeps track of high-risk individuals and organisations and is used worldwide to identify and manage financial, regulatory and reputational risks.

Source: NAZK