First Deputy Chairman Of Belcoopsoyuz Detained On Corruption Case

On Tuesday, law enforcement agencies detained Zmitser Baranau in Minsk.

Two unrelated sources confirmed this information to tut.by

"The Investigative Committee detained one of the leaders of the Belcoopsoyuz as a suspect in the criminal case on corruption. The case is being investigated," – Yulia Hancharova, the official representative of the Investigative Committee, said. We are talking about Article 430 of the Criminal Code (bribery).

Belcoopsoyuz is a major retail operator which network includes over 8,000 retail facilities and 700 truck-bed kiosks. Last year, media actively covered problems of the organization. Over the past 5 years, the share of consumer cooperation in the volume of retail trade turnover decreased by 4 pp. – down to 7.1%.

MART, in particular, had questions to the Belcoopsoyuz regarding the timeliness of payables. According to Belstat, retail trade turnover of consumer cooperation organizations amounted to 2.2 billion rubles in 2016. Commodity stocks are 232.6 million rubles, which is equivalent to 42 days of trade.

This is not the first time when the big officials of the Belcoopsoyuz are mentioned in high-profile cases. In 2015, the former head of the Belkoopsoyuz Siarhei Sidzko was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and a fine of 500 basic units; he was also deprived of the right to hold positions related to organizational and administrative duties for five years.

Sidzko was charged with taking bribes and abuse of power under Part 3 of Art. 430 and part 3 of Art. 424 of the Criminal Code. The state prosecutor asked the court to recognize Sidzko guilty of committing crimes under Part 1, 2, 3 of Art. 430 of the Criminal Code (Repeated receiving of bribes, including large and especially large bribes) and part 2 of Art. 424 of the Criminal Code.

July 23, 2013, the KGB announced that they had identified and stopped the illegal activities of a group of people including the leaders and employees of Belkoopsoyuz and representatives of commercial structures engaged in extortion for providing the right to work at the objects of consumer cooperation, as well as in the sale of land and real estate to investors. The bribes reached 500 thousand dollars.