"He Certainly Didn't Have Crown Jewels": What They Say In Slutsk About Possible Detention Of Sugar Plant Director

Journalists have interviewed local residents.

Director of Slutsk sugar refinery Mikalai Prudnik may be one of the passengers of Belavia flight from Minsk to Munich, taken off the plane in Hrodna. What do they say about him in Slutsk? Radio Svaboda journalists talked to local residents.

"He certainly didn't have the crown jewels."

"A very good man, no matter what they say about him, people will not believe", - a resident of Slutsk says about Prudnik. The town residents recall that the Slutsk plant was the last one that was forced to transfer 70% of its shares to the state.

"The plant has a very strong social security system. The women in the decree are paid extra by the enterprise. My daughter received up to 1,000 rubles on maternity leave, as she worked there," - Zhanna from Slutsk says.

People say that salaries at the plant are 700-800 rubles.

Uladzimir, Mikalai Prudnik's neighbour, does not believe in the guilt of the plant head:

"I have not seen any super profits. His car is good, but he is the director. He certainly didn't have the crown jewels. When his house was being repaired, they gave me his keys. If a treasure was hidden there, I wouldn't leave the keys."

The Prudniks have been living in Slutsk since 1978. The house is attached to the neighboring one.

"Paired. They don't do that now. They built it with their own hands. He used to work as a master at the beetroot station. He started from there to become a director. He's a master, he can and does everything himself. He gets up early and works", - Uladzimir says about Prudnik.

He himself works as a locksmith at the same sugar plant. He earns about 700 rubles.

Uladzimir is satisfied with the way Prudnik has renewed the production at the plant. "They pay well, but also ask from the employees strictly. There are breathalyzers at the entrance, if there is a smell of alcohol, you will not be able to go to work".

"The best ones are taken away. Why do they do it, is it 1937?" - Uladzimir is outraged with the possible detention of the director.

He is also outraged by the way the state seized the controlling interest of the plant.

"I had 400 shares, one year I got $4,000 in dividends on them, changed the windows here. And now the state has done a cunning thing, the controlling interest has been given to the Minsk Regional Executive Committee, the shares have been devalued. Last time, last year, I got about $500 on them," - the man says.

"The director is on vacation, I don't know anything else."

"Mikalai Prudnik has been on vacation since Friday, - the receptionists said. - He wrote an application for two weeks' holiday. That's all I can tell you".

Deputy Director for Ideology of the Sugar Refinery in Slutsk Yeuhen Shapavalau said that he did not know where Mikalai Prudnik, General Director of the enterprise, was at the moment.

"He has been on planned vacation since Friday," - Shapavalau says, but adds that the director has not been in touch since then. Shapavalau also doesn't know whether an investigation team has worked at the plant and whether they will call employees for questioning.

Shapavalau describes Prudnik as a very good manager, "everything hinges on him here". Prudnik has been working as a director of the plant since 2004, previously he was a deputy and came to the plant from the post of head of the purchasing center.

"Such people should not be thrown away," - Shapavalau believes. Regarding ties with the Haradzeya and Zhabinka sugar factories, he says that the colleagues often come to Slutsk and share their experience. Employees from Slutsk also often travel to other sugar factories.

Employees of the Slutsk sugar plant, whom the journalist met at the entrance hall, refused to speak.