English

Banker sentenced to seven years in prison

A judge of the Tsentralny District Court on Friday sentenced the former head of the Supervisory Board of Tekhnabank (Technobank) to seven years in a medium-security correctional institution.

The judge also sentenced Uladzislaw Katsarenka to the forfeiture of all property, finding him guilty on all charges.

Two of Mr. Katsarenka’s seven co-defendants were sentenced to five years in prison and the confiscation of property and one was sentenced to a five-year “restricted freedom” term without being sent to a correctional institution.

Mr. Katsarenka was in custody since his arrest in March 2012. He and the other seven suspects in the case were charged with embezzlement, illegal business activities, tax evasion, fraud, and forgery.
Mr. Katsarenka was accused of helping managers of private companies dodge taxes through dummy firms registered in Britain and Russia.

The executives are believed to have earned a total of 417 billion rubels ($48.6 million at the current exchange rate) through all illegal business activities, evading more than seven billion rubels ($816,000) in taxes during a period of four years.

Authorities insisted that the charge against Ms. Katsarenka had nothing to do with Tekhnabank's activities.

Mr. Katsarenka is deputy chairperson of Syarhey Haydukevich's Liberal Democratic Party. //BelaPAN