Investigation: Serbian connections bypassing Western sanctions against Lukashenko..

The authors of a new study, published by foreign journalists of Belarusian origin, reveal fraternal relations between a Serbian oligarch under Western sanctions and the leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, as well as schemes for circumventing sanctions with the help of Cyprus' EU membership.

Belarusian Research Centre, based outside the country after being suppressed in July2021, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), published on Tuesday (October11th) detailed information and documents confirming the ownership by the Serbian Karic family and their connections to Lukashenko.

The Karic Brothers"Bogolyub and Dragomir initially became known as sponsors of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Their friendship with Lukashenko led to extremely profitable results for their operations in Belarus, where they carried out several significant real estate projects through their company 'Dana Astra', causing damage to urban development in Minsk."

Bogolyub KarichThe businessman and politician even ran for the position of president of Serbia, but was accused of tax evasion and money laundering in Serbia. He fled to Belarus, where he received a Belarusian passport in2010. After Serbian authorities stopped the investigation, he was able to return home. But during this time, his business in Belarus flourished.

BrotherDragomirHe is a longtime Honorary Consul of Belarus in Belgrade and the chairman of the parliamentary group "Friendship with Belarus". In2009, he invited Lukashenko to the popular Serbian resort of Kopaonik. Dragomir held official meetings with Lukashenko more often than other members of the Karic family. His latest appearance was in December2021, when Dragomir praised Lukashenko, calling him "his president" and saying, "Many western companies still indirectly work with Belarus through third countries. Business is like water: it cannot be stopped, it will find its way."

Over the past ten years, the Karich brothers have become one of the largest real estate developers in Belarus and have lured over170 million euros abroad thanks to warm relations with Lukashenko. Lukashenko's daughter, Liliya Lukashenko, who is married to his eldest son Viktor, worked for the businessmen and met with them at several resorts.

Lukashenko even issued decrees exempting the Karic brothers from the necessary land trading procedures, costing taxpayers around1 billion dollars, according to OCCRP's estimate. Contrary to tradition, taxpayers had to pay for infrastructure such as water, electricity, and roads. To add insult to injury, Lukashenko also relieved the Karic business from some other taxes, allowing his friends to operate freely and make huge profits.

In December2020, the EU and the UK imposed sanctions on companies Dana Holdings (Cyprus) and Dana Astra (Belarus) established by the Karich family. In August2021, the US referred to the Karich family as "Lukashenko's construction wallet" and followed suit with sanctions. The sanctions targeted Bogoljub Karic's son Nebojsa and the companies Dana Holdings, Dana Astra, Emirates Blue Sky, and Dubai Water Front. In turn, Bogoljub Karic was subjected to EU sanctions in June2022 for supporting the Lukashenko regime and benefiting from this connection.

To circumvent sanctions, Dana Holdings sold five Cypriot companies to Enterprise Developments Holding from the UAE just two weeks before the sanctions were announced. International experts believe this is a deal involving money laundering.

"The idea was to create a tracing system for the money, which legally allows them to access these 700 million euros. This is important because banks want to know where the money comes from, and you can explain that it comes from sales... Automatically, they will gain access to 700 million euros in a country where they are not subject to sanctions and will receive dividends from hidden assets," said forensic accountant Abdulwahed Alobali.

The Belarusian Research Center also found that the Karich family is practically immune to sanctions regarding real estate, including in Western Europe. According to a report by Transparency International UK, the Karichs own seven apartments in central London, registered under Dejan Lazarevic - the son-in-law of Bogolyub. Lazarevic uses offshore companies to hold the property. Company documents show that Lazarevic is a "person holding a prominent public position." According to international standards, this should raise concerns among financial organizations and observers, as individuals in prominent public positions may influence corruption due to their status and power.

The authors of the study reached out to the Karich family for their comments. The family's lawyer responded that the accusations are "unfounded" and requested to postpone the publication for three weeks to prepare a comment. The authors of the study gave him one week, during which he did not respond, but stated that they are ready to publish the Karich family's official statement separately as soon as they receive it.