Minsk Motorcycle Plant, owned by the Austrian company ATEC Holding, and Yalizava Glass Works whose controlling stake is owned by the same firm, may become state property again.
A criminal case has been launched in against the top management of the Austrian company and the Minsk Motorcycle Works. Some of them have been detained. This is what tut.by learned from several informed sources. There have been no official confirmation of this yet.
In 2007, ATEC Holding registered in Austria bought Motavela for Br 15,6 billion. The Austrian company controlled by Murauiou brothers and their Russian partners promised to keep the brand Motavela and specialization of the plant producing motorcycle and bicycle equipment. They also promised to to invest in the development of the company at least $20 million in five years and by 2012 to start production of 500,000 bicycles and 30 thousand motorcycles a year. In addition, the firm was to repay the company’s debts to the state budget (including a loan of 18.3 billion rubles).
However, the new owners did not fulfill their promises on time. The Yalizava Works which found it difficult to compete with cheap glass containers from Russia, got into debt and stopped two of the three workshops.
As tut.by learnt from several informed sources, security officials had been checking the Murauiou brothers and their company for about a month. “A case has been launched. The main defendants, the Murauiou brothers and management of companies, have been detained. They are suspected of taking away the capital,” said the source. According to the sources, the amount of damage is estimated at $20 million.
On June 5, there appeared information about the arrest of only one businessman – Alyaksandr Murauiou.
In 2012, by order of the President of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarusian confectionaries Kamunarka and Spartak were nationalized. As a result, American businessman Marat Novikau of the Belarusian origin, who owned the company, lost his property.
tut.by, belsat.eu/en/
