Iceland, Hungary helped shelter Belarusian businessman from EU … – EURACTIV

Iceland has used its lobbying power vis--vis the EU to shelter Alexander Moshensky, a Belarusian oligarch close to Alexander Lukashenko, from sanctions, with Hungary also using its veto in his favour, fresh analysis from a consortium of investigative websites has revealed.

Moshensky, a Belarusian businessman whose assets include the prominent food manufacturers Santa Bremor and Savushkin Produkt earning him the nickname of the fish king of Belarus has for two decades enjoyed diplomatic and business relations with Iceland.

Rejkyavik subsequently lobbied the EU to shield Moshensky from European sanctions, despite his having close ties to the regime of Belarusian premier Lukashenko, as now revealed in a journalistic investigation published on Friday (4 August).

While many other wealthy businessmen close to Lukashenko, like Aliaksandr ShakutsinorSiarhei Tsiatseryn are on the EU sanctions list, Moshensky has so far escaped them.

The fact that Mashenski did not appear to be a close associate of Lukashenko was believed to be the reason the sanctions bypassed him. But is it really so? the investigation asks.

The report by the Belarusian Investigative Centre (BIC) in collaboration with LRT (Lithuania) and Heimildin (Iceland) with the support of CyberPartisans and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), illustrated the extent of Moshenskys relationship with Lukashenko.

In 2006, Moshensky became Icelands honorary consulin Belarus, and still keeps this position, according to the website of the Icelandic government.

According to the newspaper Heimildin, Icelandic Foreign Ministry representatives made over 30 calls to EU decision-makers to lobby on Moshenskys behalf to prevent EU sanctions from being applied to him.

The newspaper writes that Hungary came to the rescue of Moshensky after 10 EU countries requested he be included in the sanction list at a meeting at the beginning of May, which reportedly greatly angered the Poles and Lithuanians.

According to Heimildin, the Hungarian government, in addition to being particularly opposed to any EU coercive measures against Belarus, has its own representative in the offices of Moshenskys flagship company Santa Bremor.

The managing director of Santa Bremor, Sergey Nyadbaylau, whos is Hungarys honorary consul in Belarus. The fact that in Santa Bremor headquarters there are two consuls from foreign countries, one Hungarian and one Icelandic, has already attracted media attention.

Moshenskis connections with the Belarusian authorities have been well documented: he has accompanied Lukashenko in the governmental plane during trips abroad, supported him in electoral campaigns, and been the recipient of a medal.

On 20 June, Icelandic MP Thrhildur Sunna varsdttirfrom the Pirate Party voiced in the Council of Europe her deep regret that the government of her country refused to dismiss Moshensky as honorary consul of Iceland in Belarus.

I am ashamed that we still maintain these ties for business interests mostly. Im ashamed of reports that Iceland has used its diplomatic power within the European Union to keep him off sanctions lists. I hope that we will soon become a state that shows full solidarity with the people of Belarus, regardless of whether or not that in some way or other impacts our economic interests, varsdttir stated, according to a Council of Europe transcript.

BIC describes the financial montage of the main business of Moshensky via an octopus of offshore zones in Seychelles, the British island of Jersey and EU member Cyprus. This allows the Belarusian company to whitewash its origin and to use Klaipeda, a port in EU member Lithuania, to import raw fish from Norway, Iceland, South America and Asia, the investigation states.

As BIC describes it, Moshensky owns the fishing business in Belarus, partly directly, and partly through offshore companies. Norwegian and Icelandic fish enter Belarus through his company in Lithuania. Transactions between firms act like a credit carousel to evade tax.

Moshensky has already taken steps to protect his business should he find himself on the sanctions list, according to BIC. His Lithuanian company Santa Trade changed ownership a month and a half after the start of the war in Ukraine. Santa Trade is now owned not by Santa Bremor but by Newride Services Limited of Cyprus. According to OCCRP, this company is owned by the businessmans daughter, Yana Mashenskaya.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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Iceland, Hungary helped shelter Belarusian businessman from EU ... - EURACTIV