Does Slovenia cooperate with Lukashenka’s “family” business?

“RIKO d.o.o.” company (Slovenia) has won the tender for construction in the historic downtown of Minsk.

The company is to construct a complex based upon the five-star Kempinski hotel with a cost of about EUR 100 million for the Ice Hockey Championship – 2014. The same company will construct a complex of 81 residential accommodations and commercial property.

What has made the Slovenian company which specializes on technological engineering and electric-power industry to be involved in projects at the territory of the “last dictatorship of Europe”, and what is more, amid Russia’s Itera’s failure with Minsk-City project? As compared to Itera’s assets and business activities, this company looks as a kind of a private entrepreneur.

Besides, the Slovenian company confirmed that they do not have their own money for financing the project. As it was informed, most of the finances is to be covered by the property developer, and the rest is to be covered at the expense of Slovenian and foreign banks. No one doubted that the victory of the Slovenian company has something to do with the fact that it is called “Riko”, and it has realized more than 30 projects on modernization of woodworking and machine industry enterprises in Belarus over the last 10 years, and even not because A. Lukashenka personally knows its co-owner Janez Škrabec, and was skiing at a Slovenian ski resort in 2004 on his invitation, but only because…

As AFN writes, sources in European diplomatic circles assert that participation of Slovenian business in this project is the cost the Slovenian authorities charged for blocking consideration of the issue of extending sanctions against Belarus at the level of the Council of Europe.

This country certainly has such an opportunity as an EU member. But Slovenia can just drag out adoption of the decision on extending sanctions, but cannot bury this topic. However, even a delay is quite enough for the Belarusian side. As the entire campaign of involving oppositionists and a political lobbyist represented by an entire European country, had been undertaken for solving at least a minimal problem: to give Belarusian businessmen an opportunity to get ready for possible sanctions.

“Riko” itself has helped to find the missing piece in the sanctions’ puzzle by publishing a press-release about winning the tender at its corporate website.

“The construction of the Kempinski Hotel is worth EUR 57 million, whereas the cost of the entire complex is estimated at over EUR 100 million… The investor in the project is the Elite Estate JLCC company, Belarus,” the report reads.

The Elite Estate JLCC company is known to every Belarusian child, as it is a hotel sector of the business empire of Yury Chyzh (Yuri Chizh), a businessman who is one of the closest to Lukashenka, and who is one of the most possible candidature to be blacklisted.

In such a way the scheme of business dealings is working amid the economic sanctions (bringing into the country the money hidden in Europe). De jure the project is realized by the Slovenian Riko, and no sanctions are extended on it. De facto, the hotel and houses are constructed by the Elite Estate controlled by Chyzh, and EUR 50 million of own money are inflowed into the project, or, as evil tongues say, these are “family” – that is Lukashenka’s – money.