What stands behind former trade minister's detention

Former trade minister Valiantsin Chakanau has ended up in pretrial detention. According to the Investigations Committee, he is facing charges of office abuse.

It is yet to be known what exactly he is accused of.

The news about his detention in Minsk was reported last Friday, December 18. One day before, commentators has expected him to be re-appointed as the trade minister. But that did not happen.

There are several versions to explain his prosecution.

Corruption

The Trade Ministry recently suspended temporarily the shops of MART INN retail chain. They are back in business again from December 16. The ministry also suspended several restaurants, cafes and stores. Conflicts were often resolved. The former minister's detention may be connected with this situation.

Belarusian officials are often jailed for either corruption or embezzlement of public funds.

Drugs

This is another versio yet to be proved. The name of Valiantsin Chakanau is often associated in the internet with the distribution of opiate poppy seeds.

This narcotic substance appeared in Belarus in 2004. From the very beginning, poppy seeds were stored at the warehouses of Belbakaleyahandal, run by Valiantsin Chakanau nack then. However, it was totally legal back then to disseminate any poppy seeds.

The seeds were sold in usual stores under the Silver Bridge brand. Using the openly available chemicals, addicts used those seeds to brew a narcotic substance. By 2014, the number of addicts reached over 100 000 people. The fact is the grows in popularity of this narcotic coincided with the time when CHakanau was the head of Belbakaleyahandal and the minister of trade. There is information that all attempts by the Interior Ministry to stop the dissemination of poppy seeds were blocked by the trade ministry.

In early 2014 Lukashenka signed Decree No 1, which came as a serious blow against this business.

Photo belta.by