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Motovelo Case: Court Upholds Murauyou's Conviction

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Motovelo Case: Court Upholds Murauyou's Conviction
ALIAKSANDR MURAUYOU
PHOTO: DARIA BURIAKINA, TUT.BY

The appeal hearing was held without the participation of the accused.

Minsk City Court has considered appeals of lawyers and accused businessman and Motovelo investor Aliaksandr Murauyou against the second sentence (three years of imprisonment for tax evasion in an especially large amount), tut.by writes. The verdict of the Leninsky district court of Minsk in the second case against Aliaksandr Murauyou, the businessman and Motovelo investor, is upheld, his appeal was dismissed.

Aliaksandr Murauyou noted in the appeal that the sentence against him was illegal and groundless, since he could not be subject to article 243 (Evasion from payment of taxes). By the decision of the plenum of the Supreme Court this article of the Criminal Code applies to "persons exercising actual management" of the company.

At the same time, Murauyou emphasizes, that the decision came into force after the events incriminated to him (he was detained in June 2015 and could not manage the company, and, consequently, evade taxes), and has no retroactive effect. Moreover, the witnesses did not confirm in the court that he had actually managed four Belarusian companies, there is no evidence of such management.

Witness testimony not in Murauyou's favor was obtained from individual employees at the stage of preliminary investigation.

Murauyou's lawyer Ihar Kruchkou also noted that the first-instance court did not question witnesses, officials of Motovelo and subsidiaries. Also, the financial statement of Atec Trading, which, according to the prosecution, was created in 2008 "as an instrument of criminal intent", i.e. for tax evasion in Belarus, wasn't studied.

The lawyer also pointed out that the witnesses (in particular, the witness Fokina) did not confirm their testimony in court at the stage of the preliminary investigation. They said that they gave testimony in a state of stress and signed the protocol without reading. As a result, the cause of the contradictions has not been clarified.

"None of the witnesses confirmed in the court the findings of the investigation: all the interrogated heads of the Belarusian enterprises and their employees pointed out that it was the directors who exercised the actual leadership," – the lawyer said, adding that even employees who had a hostile attitude towards Aliaksandr Murauyou confirmed that.

All testimony that Atec Trading carried out real activities, communicated with suppliers, concluded contracts for deliveries, made payments, were not taken into account, the lawyer said.

In response, the prosecutor stated that all the conclusions and the court's decision were justified. Murauyou "exercised actual management of the enterprises through directors who were not aware of the nature of their activities." The prosecutor also noted that Atec Trading was an intermediary company used to evade taxes.

The appeal hearing was held without Murauyou's participation.

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