Slovak Buyer of Ukrainian Iron Ore Refusal to Pay

We have obtained a curious document, i.e. a letter from a large Ukrainian mining company, Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant (KZHRK), addressed to the company LAMET S.R.O., registered in Slovakia. ‘Once again, we bring to your attention about the presence of overdue debts on the part of the company for the sinter ore shipped in December 2021. As of 4th February 2022, LAMET S.R.O. overdue debt in the amount of $1.209762 million has not been paid,’ the document says. In the letter, the Ukrainian supplier emphasizes that this is not a single case, but a permanent violation by LAMET S.R.O. terms of payment stipulated by the contract. The company continues to work and fulfil the previously concluded annual contracts with consumers from Austria, Poland, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Miners, risking their lives, go down into the mine workings every day, performing their labour feat in this war, not allowing them to doubt their ability to meet contractual obligations, and the country's economy to stop completely. The work of KZHRK today is jobs, taxes, the faith of the people of Ukraine in their victory and the future of the country. In wartime, or in peacetime, but any production process requires full-fledged financing, namely, the full and timely fulfilment of buyers' calculations. Now the implementation of this obvious rule is needed more than ever. How does the long-term Slovak partner of Ukrainian miners respond? As follows from the correspondence between KZHRK and LAMET S.R.O. available to the editors, delays in payments for products supplied by Ukrainians to the Slovak company began last year, and now, in this difficult period for Ukraine, payments have stopped completely. According to a report by OSINT company Infobel Pro, LAMET S.R.O. is allegedly part of an informal network of 14 small intermediary trading companies registered in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg. In particular, the Luxembourg company CIFI S.A. deserves special attention, and Czech LAMET CZECH S.R.O. by the way as well. This entire cluster of companies is managed by a Slovak citizen Mr. Kamarak. A major Ukrainian supplier asks to pay for the already delivered iron ore (judging by the amount, we can talk about more than 6 thousand tons of sinter ore – this is a fairly large batch) and threatens with penalties.