Ikea on Thursday defended its control procedures to ensure it does not use prison labor after an investigation by news agency Disclose revealed links between several of its former suppliers in Belarus and the regime’s prison colonies in Minsk, AFP reported .

The Swedish multinational, which cut ties with its Belarusian suppliers in March because of the war in Ukraine, admitted it could not 100% rule out the possibility.

“Unfortunately, there is no system in the world strong enough to guarantee zero risk of misconduct,” the world’s largest furniture company told AFP.

In its specifications, Ikea states that it rejects forced labor and the use of prisoners in colonies.

“We have a well-established process to verify that suppliers comply with these requirements, which includes gap assessments, compliance audits and action plans in the event of non-compliance,” Ikea said.

According to the Disclose investigation, several Belarusian companies, which until recently were on the list of Ikea suppliers, cooperated with at least five prisons and colonies of the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.

A total of ten former Belarusian subcontractors of Ikea, including Mogotex and Ivatsevichdrev. According to French media, they used the labor of prisoners from various prisons (IK-2, IK-4, IK-9, IK-15 and Rypp5).

Penitentiary institutions known for torture, deprivation of food and care,” writes Disclose.

Due to the invasion of Ukraine, Ikea announced at the beginning of March that it would cease operations in Russia and its ally Belarus. Then the furniture giant announced its withdrawal from both countries.

Ikea had no stores in Belarus, but its subcontractors were estimated to be responsible for 10,000 indirect jobs, compared to 15,000 direct jobs and 50,000 indirect jobs in Russia.

The multinational company of Swedish origin was already involved in a scandal related to the work of prisoners.

In 2012, following an internal investigation, Ikea admitted that suppliers had used forced labor from East German political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s to produce some of its furniture.