The Savetski District Court of Minsk found a 60-year-old resident of Homiel guilty of fraud on an especially large scale. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 200 base units, equivalent to 9,000 Belarusian roubles.
According to prosecutors, the man was the founder and director of a unitary enterprise that provided services for purchasing cars abroad and delivering them to Belarus.
According to the prosecution, he had no intention from the outset of fulfilling his obligations to clients, as indicated by the “extremely poor financial situation of his company, the economic groundlessness and unrealistic nature of the obligations undertaken”.
“At the same time, he refunded money to some victims using funds received from other victims, after they had already contacted law enforcement agencies.
As a result of his unlawful actions, the accused appropriated more than 544,000 Belarusian roubles from 15 citizens,” the prosecution said.
In court, the defendant effectively did not admit guilt. He said he had received money from customers but had been unable to fulfil the orders because of the “introduction of restrictions on the import of cars into the Republic of Belarus by Western countries.”
The damage caused to the victims has been partially compensated.
The sentence has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.
