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Former CEO of woodworking company Barysawdrew sentenced to three years in prison

Uladzimir Maltsaw, a former director general of woodworking company AAT Barysawdrew, was sentenced Saturday to three years in a medium-security correctional institution.

A judge of the Minsk District Court found the accused guilty of abuse of power under Part Three of the Criminal Code’s Article 424.

The judge ruled that the convict’s property should not be forfeited but ordered him to pay 1,906 million rubels to Barysawdrew to compensate the company for the damage that he caused.

Mr. Maltsaw was banned from serving in managerial positions for five years.

The prosecution had suggested that the accused be sentenced to six years in a medium-security correctional institution, and claimed that Mr. Maltsaw had caused damage in the amount of more than 17 billion rubels.

Mr. Maltsaw’s lawyer Dzmitry Harachka said that the sentence would most likely be appealed.

Mr. Maltsaw has not been formally dismissed from his position as director general of Barysawdrew, although he has been held in custody since his arrest on March 13, 2014.

The prosecution charged that Mr. Maltsaw had caused substantial damage to public interests by failing to ensure the implementation of a modernization program at Barysawdrew according to schedule.

While speaking in the Minsk Regional Court in September, the public prosecutor accused Mr. Maltsaw of purchasing equipment from Turkey’s Perseus despite the fact that it did not meet all requirements. According to the prosecutor, Mr. Maltsaw did not consider offers from other bidders and took no action against Perseus when it failed to deliver the equipment on time. Moreover, the company was awarded a contract to do installation work although it had no permit for providing such services, the prosecutor said.