Regime's Property Abroad To Be Seized?

Robbed businessmen demand compensation from Minsk.

British citizen Kiabod Tutonyan Mashad has filed a lawsuit against Belarus with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. This institution is part of the World Bank Group, established in 1966 to resolve legal disputes between international investors and states, reports Belsat.

It's not known yet how much money the businessman is demanding from the Belarusian authorities. The circumstances of the lawsuit have not been made public on the court website. The Republic of Belarus, as well as the President, Prime Minister, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Economy, Energy and Chairman of the State Property Committee are named as defendants in the case.

Kiabod Tutonian Mashad invested in Solar Land, a company registered in 2015. The firm built and operated a solar power plant in Cherykau district, Mahiliou region. It started operating in September 2021. Total investment costs for the project were estimated at $170m.

From 2022, this private company sold electricity to the state, receiving almost 15.8 million rubles. However, the state reduced the tariff and demanded to return the alleged overpayment.

In January this year, it became known that the Economic Court of Mahiliou Region nationalised the station because of the debt of the owner company - the very same 15.8 million rubles.

In March, the facility was put up for auction with a starting price of Br79.5 million (almost $25 million). However, the auction did not take place due to the lack of willing bidders.

The other day, businessman Aliaksandr Murauyou said that he would sue the Belarusian state for the loss of his assets. The matter may concern €274 million.

Murauyou once occupied the 36th place in the ranking of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Belarus. He owned several significant assets through the Austrian company of ATES Holding GmbN - Minsk Motorbike Plant, glass factories in Yelizava and Homel. In 2013, the authorities had questions regarding the work of the bicycle factory: they said that the businessman had not invested as much as he should, and the enterprise itself had not increased production.

Two years later, when Murauyou refused to give the shares of the plant to the state, law enforcers "unexpectedly" noticed tax violations and other offences allegedly committed by him: fraud and theft. The businessman was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony, and his assets were confiscated.

In March 2023 it became known that Murauyou was released, he went to Dubai. The terms of his early release are unknown.

"I believe that there are chances to win," legal advisor of the People's Anti-Crisis Department Mikhail Kiryliuk told "Belsat", speculating on the prospects of such litigation. In general, as the lawyer noted, such trials, when investors challenge the governments of various countries, are a civilised common practice.

"Belarus has already lost such cases. For example, the court ordered the Ministry of Justice of Belarus to pay $20 million to the Russian investor of Manolium. I don't know whether this decision was implemented, but even at the stage of disputes, foreign assets of Belarus were known: lawyers at this stage can take specific measures to then impose some encumbrances on these assets," said Kiryliuk.

He explained that if Minsk refuses to pay, the assets of the Belarusian state in those countries that recognise the jurisdiction of a particular court can be confiscated:

"The same sanatorium in Lithuania. I'm sure that Belarus has a lot of real estate in the European Union. Confiscation is a threat in all states that recognise arbitration decisions - that is, the whole world, except for some friends of Putin. The easiest is, of course, in the EU.

Kiryliuk reminded that Belarusian foreign assets have not been arrested like Russian ones after the war. Therefore, there is a lot to take away.

"Here we can only pity all of us because the money of Belarusian taxpayers is spent in such a way. Out of the stolen 100 million, Lukashenka will return 150 with all the interest and fines. He will take the difference from the pockets of Belarusians. And additionally, Belarus will receive billions of dollars in underinvestment, as such cases get into the reports of all international consulting and rating, tax and legal companies. We won't have any investments, except for Chinese ones, and they are not the most pleasant one," summed up Belsat's interlocutor.