'Lukashenka's purses' withdraw more than 170 million euros from Belarus

In December 2020, the main Belarusian assets of businessmen — Dana Holdings and "Dana Astra" — fell under European and British sanctions, and in August 2021 — under American sanctions.

Businessmen tried (quite successfully) to avoid the negative impact of sanctions. Yes, they changed the final owner of Cypriot Dana Holdings — they became a close family friend Nagip Behluli. But the most exciting thing is another:, two weeks before the introduction of sanctions, Dana Holdings sold the listed Cypriot companies to the Emirati company Enterprise Developments Holding. Which, "coincidentally," is also owned by a man who is no stranger to Karich - Mustafa Al Tobgi.

Dana Holdings sold five Cypriot companies for 700 million euros. This roughly corresponds to the journalists' assessment of their assets in Belarus. But according to the bookkeeping, they recorded the value of these companies 30 thousand times (!) cheaper — 21 thousand 550 euros, according to the company's report.

As a result of this transaction, Dana Holdings formally received almost 700 million in profit. Another thing is that the money from the sale did not arrive in the company's account at the end of 2020 but was marked as receivables. However, due to this manipulation, Dana Holdings owners could withdraw a huge amount from their accounts.

In addition, the journalists discovered that the sanctions do not prevent the Karich family from managing real estate, including in the center of London.