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Lukashenka threatens heads of Belaruskali, Belnaftakhim with imprisonment

 

Alyaksandr Lukashenka warned on Friday that the top executives of potash giant Belaruskali and the Belarusian State Petrochemical Industry Concern (Belnaftakhim) may be sent to prison over dubious deals involving the organizations’ money, according to the government’s news agency BelTA.

Speaking at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Alyaksandr Yakabson, head of the State Control Committee, said that some state-owned organizations, including Salihorsk-based Belaruskali, made contributions to a privately owned pension fund, which put the money in a bank and distributed the interest earned among its shareholders. The director of the fund and her husband, who are both shareholders, received almost three billion rubels in dividends in 2012, according to Mr. Yakabson.

Finance Minister Andrey Kharkavets said at the meeting that Belaruskali had been repeatedly offered to choose a state-owned company as its pension fund, but had not yet done so “due to a number of reasons.”

When asked to comment, Belaruskali CEO Valery Kiryyenka cited “various difficulties,” while Belnaftakhim head Ihar Zhylin denied knowledge of the problem altogether.

Angered by the replies, Mr. Lukashenka said, “Maybe Kiryyenka is not in his right place if he cannot solve such a simple issue?”

“If Kiryyenka is guilty, he should be sent to prison. If Zhylin is guilty, he should follow him. All of their subordinates should go there as well,” he said.

Mr. Lukashenka ordered that the private pension fund return the money.

“All matters should be resolved before the end of March. If Kiryyenka fails to solve them, he should be put in a cell and the minister should follow him,” Mr. Lukashenka told the head of the Committee for State Security. // BelaPAN