Алексей Олексин во время визита Александра Лукашенко на рынок «Валерьяново» 14 мая. Скриншот ОНТ
Journalists from the Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC) have reported how businessman Aliaksei Aleksin, described as a “wallet” of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and known as the “tobacco king,” allegedly used Western jurisdictions to legalise grey income. The investigation is based on leaked documents from New Zealand company WorldClear and Pacific Private Bank (PPB), registered in Vanuatu.
The investigation was prepared in cooperation with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), New Zealand financial news platform interest.co.nz, journalism organisation Finance Uncovered, Lithuanian news outlet 15min.lt, Swedish newspaper Expressen and the Rabochy Rukh initiative, with support from the Cyber Partisans.
According to the authors, they uncovered a network of interconnected companies in offshore jurisdictions through which multimillion-dollar transfers were routed over several years. BIC says a key role in the scheme was played by Lithuanian businessman Vilius Kavaliauskas, who owned PPB between 2014 and 2018.
The withdrawal of funds from MTBank, owned by Aleksin’s business group, was reportedly disguised as advance payments for petroleum products. Funds were transferred, contracts were subsequently cancelled, and the advance payments returned. During the months before the refunds were made, the recipient company, Cyprus-based Sumsteg International Limited, issued short-term loans using the funds and earned interest on them. Sumsteg was owned by Mekhti Mekhtiev, a friend of Aleksin’s son Dzmitry. However, it was managed by Kavaliauskas’s Lithuanian company Lewben, which has been linked to servicing business figures associated with Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
According to the investigation, contracts involving advance payments worth nearly $500 million were cancelled between 2015 and 2021.
Part of the proceeds from these operations was allegedly routed by Sumsteg through Pacific Private Bank in Vanuatu using the New Zealand payment system WorldClear, which is known for working with high-risk clients. The money was then transferred to Aleksin’s personal account under the guise of loan repayments. BIC says it traced at least $3.5 million that reached Aleksin in this way.
Financial crime experts consulted by BIC said the scheme showed signs of concealing the origin of funds and possible tax avoidance.