The company Kronospan from Salzburg, founded in 1897, is a world leader in the chipboard market. The global corporation headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus, has seal of approval in over 20 countries.
However, criticism was repeatedly raised, for example, because of the pollutant emissions from the factories or because the company was associated with the illegal trade in timber and illegally felled wood. In 2021, it also levied a fine for price fixing, which also affected Austrian companies HS Timber and Egger.
The Financial Market Authority (FMA) also became aware of Kronospan. Because the nested company structure obscures the ownership structure and allows for non-transparent offshore transactions. In this context, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) was also fined in 2018 for failing to screen its client’s (Kronospan) corporate network in accordance with money laundering standards. However, the procedure has been partially reopened, some of the claims are likely to prescribe, Standard report and profile. A final clarification is therefore pending.
Accusation: blood money
In the course of the war in Ukraine, new accusations now appear: Kronospan continues to do good business in seven locations in Russia and two in Belarus, where it is said that the group maintains good contacts with President Alexander Lukashenko, reports Radio Ö1, among others . And since forests in Russia and Belarus are state-owned, commercial activities benefit the regimes. “It’s dirty money,” says Sam Lawson, director of forest protection organization Earthsight.