Millions of investment for the head of a human rights activist?

European officials and businessmen are cynically bargaining with the Belarusian dictatorship.

Lithuanian Rasa Kalinauskaite, the author of the article titled “Millions of investments for the head of a human rights activist?” in Lietuvos Žinios, continues to investigate the theme of personal interests of certain Lithuanian lawyers and businessmen.

After the international scandal with betraying the Belarusian dissident and issuing a visa to the Belarusian deputy minister of justice, Alla Bodak, included in the EU's blacklist, the Lithuanian authorities try to prove it was just a mistake caused by the lack of coordination and system errors. Is this really so?

LŽ has proofs that a reason for the betrayal might have been just signed profitable contracts. The same persons are involved in making the contracts and the betrayal. It's not just a treachery, it's a treachery for money.

Family business

The Belarusian authorities had approved a big (77 million euros) investment of Lithuanian businessmen in the Mahilou region a few days before the Ministry of Justice took a decision to reveal information about bank accounts of Belarusian dissidents Ales Byalyatski and Valyantsin Stefanovich, Rasa Kalinauskaite notes.

The Lithuanian businessmen got a legal advice from the Belarusian bureau of Bernotas Dominas Glimstedt law firm run by partner of the firm Egidius Bernotas. Upon making the contract, Bernotas's wife, Ausra Bernotiene, took a decision to satisfy Belarus's request for legal assistance in the case of Belarusian opposition members.

What is this – a coincidence or a cynical bargaining, when information about Belarusian dissidents was exchanged for permission to launch a project, which was planned 18 month ago, but had not been approved by official Minsk – Rasa Kalinauskaite wonders.

Obligation of high authorities

JSC Vakaru Medienos Grupė represented by CEO Viktoras Adomaitis and Mebelain company of SBA group represented by director Alexander Gordeichik signed a contract on February 28, 2011, with head of the Mahilou region executive committee Pyotr Rudnik on construction of plants in the Mahilou free economic zone.

Under the contract, Vakarų medienos grupė plans to construct several wood-working and furniture factories by 2012. the investments are estimated at 77 million euros. SBA group plans to construct Mebelain factory (12.65 million euros of investment).

The signing ceremony was attended by Edminas Bagdonas, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Belarus, and the commercial attache of the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture, Edvinas Kaminskas.

The decision on this investment was taken by Belarus's top officials – the Council of Ministers of Belarus released ruling Nr 204 on February 18, 2011, obliging head of the Mahilou region executive committee Rudnik to sign a contract with Vakarų medienos grupė.

Chief legal counsel

The Belarusian TV covered the ceremony of signing calling the deal the biggest investment of Lithuanian capital in Belarus, which approval took 18 months.

The preparation of the project started yet on June 26, 2009. What influenced Minsk to make it approve this project, which had been delayed before, the Lithuanian newspaper asks.

Bernotas & Dominas Glimstedt law firm was legal counsel of Vakarų medienos grupė in the case of investments in the Mahilou region, the firm's website says. The project was coordinated by Belarusian partner Daria Zhuk.

Opening the Belarusian bureau of Bernotas & Dominas Glimstedt was initiated and is now run by Bernotas, firm's partner and the husband of former chief of the International Law Department at the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, Rasa Kalinauskaite writes.

When the Council of Ministers of Belarus ordered Mahilou region governor Rudnik to sign a contract with Vakarų medienos grupė, the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania made a decision on revealing information about Belarusian human rights activists.

As the Ministry of Justice says, Belarus's request for providing information about bank accounts of Viasna Human Rights Centre was received on February 2, 2011.

On March 2, a few days after the investment contract was signed, the Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the bank asking to provide the requested data. The letter was signed by former chef of the International Law Department Bernotiene.

When one of the banks had refused to provide information, Bernotiene demonstrated usual for Lithuanian officials principality and zeal – she sent a request to court to make the bank to reveal the data, Lietuvos žinios runs.

Having obtained the requested data through court, the Ministry of Justice gave the information about bank accounts of Belarusian human rights activists to the Ministry of Justice of Belarus on March 28.

After LŽ's article about interests of Bernotas's law firm in Belarus, the Supreme Commission on Professional Ethics received a claim from Seimas member Saulius Stoma asking to investigate a possible conflict of public and personal interests of Bernotiene. However, Bernotiene resigned from the post, Rasa Kalanauskaite notes.

After resignation of Bernotiene, the Professional Ethics Commission said no investigation would be carried out. The question about the size of reward to the family budget of lawyer Bernotas and former official Bernotiene for the successful deal in the Mahilou region remains unanswered.

The inter-departmental commission instructed to investigate the case, that made considerable and hardly reparable damage to Lithuania's international image, did not expressed its interest in the matter. It did not even pretend it tries to look for real persons guilty in the scandal, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not start investigation regarding issuing a visa to a blacklisted official. Civil servants represent this incident as as just a accidental mistake caused by the lack of coordination between different governmental bodies, though it looks more like cynical bargaining. However, the example of the Mahilou contract shows that the bodies coordinate well, Rasa Kalinauskaite writes in Lietuvos Žinios.