Paintings Confiscated In the Belgazprombank Case Returned to the Art-Belarus Gallery

Visitors can again see the works of Osip Zadkine, Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, including the famous "Eve."

As BelaPAN was told by the curator of the corporate collection of Belgazprombank, Alexander Zimenko, visitors can again see the works of Osip Zadkin, Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, including the famous "Eve."

“The collection seized from the bank a year ago within the framework of a criminal case has been returned. Now it is available to viewers,” the press secretary of Belgazprombank Pavel Kanash confirmed to BelaPAN.

The renewed exposition of the gallery presents works of painting, graphics, sculpture, arts and crafts, book printing - more than 50 art objects in total. The new exposition is dedicated to the history of Belarusian culture in the period of the 16th-20th centuries. Among the novelties are six unique works by members of the Vitsebsk creative association UNOVIS (1920-1923) under the direction of Kazimir Malevich: Evgenia Magaril, Dmitry Sannikov, Efim Royak, Lev Yudin.

A year ago, on June 11, searches were carried out at the head office of Belgazprombank and several other companies. Then the State Control Committee announced the initiation of criminal cases against the ex-head of the bank Viktar Babaryka and top managers - under Part 3 of Art. 235 of the Criminal Code (legalization of funds obtained by criminal means on an especially large scale) and under Part 3 of Art. 243 of the Criminal Code (tax evasion on an especially large scale).

On June 14, the Belarus 1 TV channel reported that 150 paintings with a total value of about $ 20 million were added to the Belgazprombank criminal case. “There is information that they were being prepared for urgent export abroad,” the presenter said. "The true value of these assets can be much higher, one can only imagine how much they were sold for at auctions."