NEW: Two Belarusian businessmen with ties to the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko have sprawling business empires that, we reveal, extend to Lithuania.
OCCRP, @Sienalt, and @Belsat_TV investigate their business activity in this EU member state. 1/ occrp.org/en/investigati…
OCCRP, @Sienalt, and @Belsat_TV investigate their business activity in this EU member state. 1/ occrp.org/en/investigati…
2/ Alexei Aleksin and Alexander Zaytsev are a new breed of Belarusian businessmen: relatively young, global in outlook, and free from EU sanctions.
The pair emerged just as Belarus’s previous generation of oligarchs were sanctioned.
The pair emerged just as Belarus’s previous generation of oligarchs were sanctioned.
3/ When Aleksin decided to launch his own cigarette factory, Lukashenko personally redrew the borders of the Belarusian capital to ensure it would be located outside the city, and therefore less encumbered by building regulations.
4/ Zaytsev sells state-manufactured tractors and super-haul mining trucks around the world.
One of his companies was granted special gold mining rights in Sudan after Lukashenko personally brokered a major deal with the country’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2018.
One of his companies was granted special gold mining rights in Sudan after Lukashenko personally brokered a major deal with the country’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2018.
5/ "How does one shoot like a comet to the top 10 of the richest and most influential people?" a political scientist who studies Belarus rhetorically asked OCCRP. "Well, some answers are self-evident."
6/ Today’s investigation reveals that both Aleksin and Zaytsev opened companies in Lithuania and received residency permits there after 2012.
Aleksin’s company, Lexie Ventures, is based in this dilapidated building, which is covered in trash and reeks of urine.
Aleksin’s company, Lexie Ventures, is based in this dilapidated building, which is covered in trash and reeks of urine.
7/ Lexie doesn’t seem to have done anything except buy yet another apartment, where two more companies are based.
They have no employees but moved 46 million euros through their bank accounts in two years.
Read the full investigation for more:
occrp.org/en/investigati…
They have no employees but moved 46 million euros through their bank accounts in two years.
Read the full investigation for more:
occrp.org/en/investigati…
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