Фото: Генпрокуратура
The Mahiliou Region Prosecutor’s Office has sent to court a case against five women from Minsk. They are accused of extortion committed by an organized group on an especially large scale.
According to investigators, the women formed a group no later than December 2015. From January 2016 to July 2025, they visited stores posing as customers. They identified violations of trade regulations and threatened store employees with making corresponding entries in the book of comments and suggestions.
“Under threat of publicizing information about the violations they had identified and reporting it to regulatory authorities, the accused forced employees of retail outlets to purchase training seminars from them by entering into relevant contracts. Fearing public exposure and wishing to avoid punishment and other negative consequences for themselves, the employees transferred money to the bank accounts of organizations controlled by the accused,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The funds were deposited into the accounts of commercial organizations. According to the prosecutor’s office, the extortion was disguised as voluntary civil-law transactions.
“Thus, over nearly 10 years, the accused obtained more than 101,800 rubles from over 430 individuals through extortion,” the statement said.
The preventive measures previously imposed on the accused — detention and personal surety — have been left unchanged by the prosecutor.