Фото: Генпрокуратура
A dean at the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy in Horki and an individual entrepreneur devised a scheme to profit from the enrolment of foreign students. As a result, both were tried on charges of large-scale embezzlement through abuse of official authority committed by a group of persons.
The defendants organized a scheme involving individual entrepreneurs who formally invited foreign students to study at the university. The entrepreneurs were entitled to remuneration for the enrolment of 305 students. However, the actual work of recruiting students was carried out by faculty staff acting on the dean’s instructions, while the money intended for the entrepreneurs was divided between the defendants, the Mahiliou Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported.
From June 2022 to September 2025, the defendants received more than 320,000 Belarusian roubles.
During the trial, both defendants admitted guilt and compensated the university for the damages.
The Horki District Court sentenced the 43-year-old dean to six years in a penal colony and imposed a fine of 500 basic units (22,500 Belarusian roubles). His 42-year-old accomplice received a five-year prison sentence suspended for three years and a fine of 300 basic units (13,500 Belarusian roubles). Both were also barred from holding positions involving organizational, managerial or administrative responsibilities for five years.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.