Prominent Belarusian businessman detained by KGB
The Belarusian KGB confirmed on Sunday that it has detained prominent businessman Yury Chizh on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion, Interfax reported.
Chizh, the owner of the Belarusian firm Triple, has been a close adviser to President Alexander Lukashenko since the early 1990s, and has long been referred to as one of the President’s main sponsors.
Sources indicate that Chizh has recently fallen out of favor with the Belarusian government.
If convicted, Chizh could serve up to 7 years in prison.
"Together with him there were detained a series of people. They are all in a KGB detention center now," said Dmitry Pobyarzhin, a representative of the Belarusian KGB.
In 2012 Chizh was included on the list of Belarusian individuals and companies sanctioned by the EU due to the country's human rights violations.
According to tut.by, Chizh was a member of Lukashenko’s inner-circle, but after the arrest of his business partner Vladimir Yaprintseva several months ago, Chizh reportedly fell out of favor with the Belarusian authorities. Tut.by noted that the Belarusian businessmen has “been in disgrace” for several months.