Millions Of Euros Of Lukashenka Oligarch, 'MP' Found In Swiss Bank

The money was used for suspicious purposes.

The Belarusian Investigative Center has studied the leaked data about the clients of the large Swiss bank of Credit Suisse. Some interesting names turned out to be among them. The investigators believe that these people may have taken advantage of the secrecy of the Swiss banking system for dubious purposes.

In January 2012, the account of an unnamed company of Lukashenka "businessman of fortune" Aliaksei Aleksin appeared in the Swiss bank of Credit Suisse. In July it amounted to more than $36 million.

This happened at the height of the solvents and diluents scheme, the idea of which was attributed to Aleksin. In 2012, Russia terminated the solvent scheme, and two years later, Aleksin closed the account with Credit Suisse.

Aleksin refused to comment to investigators.

Former "deputy" of the "house of representatives" and former general director of Belaruskali (he held this chair from 1992 to 2001) Piotr Kaluhin opened an account at the Swiss bank of Credit Suisse for an unnamed firm in 2008.

At that time he was not officially employed by any company in Belarus - he was only a "deputy" of the "house of representatives". A year and seven months later, almost $1.3 million would appear in that account.

With the help of Cyberpartisans, investigators found out that Kaluhin's income for seven years - from 2003 to 2009 - was about $87 thousand. That is 15 times less than the amount in his Swiss account.

In 2009, Kaluhin began working at Shakhtaspetsstroi, a former division of Belaruskali that had become a private enterprise. Moreover, Kaluhin's appointment came on the eve of a major project.

In January 2010, Belarus agreed on the construction of the Garlyk mining and processing plant worth about $1 billion in Turkmenistan. Belhorkhimpram, the general contractor of the project, subcontracted Shakhtaspetsstroi. Two months later, those $1.3 million appeared in Kalugin's Swiss account.

We asked Piotr Kaluhin for explanations, but he was unable to comment clearly on the issues in a telephone conversation.

The construction of the complex turned into a scandal. According to media reports, the Turkmen authorities accused Belarus of improper performance of the contract and filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, commonly known as the Stockholm Arbitration. They assessed damages at $900 million. Belarus rejected the charges and filed a counterclaim for $400 million. There has been no news on the outcome of the trial, but the potash plant in Turkmenistan has been commissioned after all. It happened in 2017, although the launch was planned two years earlier.

All this time Piotr Kaluhin has been working at Shakhtaspetsstroi. He owns a small house in the Slutsk district, his wife has a four-bedroom flat near Lake Kamsamolskaye in Minsk and a two-storey cottage near the Salihorsk Reservoir.

Kaluhin closed his Swiss bank account in August 2014.