Alyaksandr Murauiou
The businessman and the investor of “Motovelo” Alyaksandr Murauiou has been sentenced to 11 years in prison with confiscation of property, including shares of “Motovelo”.
The sentence was announced on January 30 at the Frunze district court of Minsk.
Alyaksandr Murauiou was found guilty of all crimes he was charged with: fraud (Part 4 of Article 209), theft (Part 4 of Article 210, tax evasion (Part 2 of Article 243), organization and aiding in crimes (Article 16). The final verdict was 11 years of strict regime colony. The state prosecution had requested 12 years. In addition, the court banned Mr Murauiou from holding certain positions for 5 years and confiscated his assets — including stocks of “Motovelo”.
Ex-director of “Motovelo” Kazimir Maroz was found guilty of official negligence (Article 428), as well as embezzlement (Part 4, Article 210). Mr Maroz was sentenced to 5 years of restriction of liberty without sending him to a correctional institution of an open type, with confiscation of property, and the 5-year prohibition to hold certain positions.
How the “Motovelo” case started
Former deputy director of the “Motovelo” Tatsiana Lukavets was found guilty of forgery (Part 1, Article 427). She was sentenced to 1 year imprisonment and released from punishment because the statute of limitations had expired.
Mr Murauiou and Mr Maroz are also required to compensate the “Motovelo” damage in the amount of 415,000 rubles, and the state fee in the amount of 20,700 rubles.
“We disagree with the verdict. We are definitely going to appeal,” said Daria Lipkin, lawyer of Alyaksandr Murauiou.
The trial of Alyaksandr Murauiou and former top executives of “Motovelo” began on 21 October. Their criminal case had five episodes.
The first one and the most important one concerned the shares of JSC “Motovelo”. In 2007, an Austrian company ‘ATEC Holding’run by Mr Murauiou bought its shares from the state. The investor was obliged to invest in the company at least $ 20 million in the first 5 years, of which not less than $ 12 million were to go for the purchase of equipment. Money was received, but “Motovelo” did not buy machines for the agreed amount. The prosecution insists that the investor did not fulfill the obligations, leading state agencies astray. According to the prosecution, this ended up with Mr Murauiou illegally seizing the shares of “Motovelo” for the amount of 97.7 million rubles.
