Siloviki Take Interest In Deputy Prime Minister Zharko?

(Updated) "The Case Of Medical Workers" continues to gain momentum.

On Wednesday, July 11, Deputy Prime Minister, ex-Minister of Health Vasil Zharko was summoned for interrogation. Three sources reported this to tut.by. The information was confirmed in circles close to the Lukashenka's administration.

"Zharko was summoned to a conversation with law enforcement agencies in the afternoon of Friday. Today, July 11, he was also interrogated," – told a source who knows the situation. Two more interlocutors confirmed this information to tut.by, as well people from the circles close to the administration of the ruler.

The press service of the government said that Vasil Zharko is in his office.

The sources reported earlier about the detention of the vice-premier, but this information is not officially confirmed.

Vasil Zharko was born in the Brest region in 1956. He went from the intern at the Brest Regional Children's Hospital to the Minister of Health. In this position he worked from May 2006 to December 2016. In December 2016 he was promoted for the post of Vice-Premier of Belarus.

At the end of June Zharko told reporters that he was unaware of a large-scale corruption scheme in the health sector, which the KGB revealed.

– If I knew, then I would have taken the measures already then (when Vasil Zharko was a minister. – Note)," – the deputy prime minister said. – We really controlled the situation then, procurement is not an easy process. We started our working day with procurements and completed it with procurements. If we felt something was not right, we immediately took action against the guilty persons – up to the dismissal of their posts. But I just did not expect that such a case will emerge.

Later, tut.by denied the information about the detention of the vice-premier.

We remind that on June 25, KGB chairman Valer Vakulchyk reported that the committee had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme in Belarus’ healthcare sector, several dozen people were detained. Among them –director of the Center for Expertise and Testing in Healthcare Aliaksandr Staliarou, Belmedtekhnika director Aliaksandr Sharak, Head of the Health Department of Hrodna Region Executive Committee Andrei Stryzhak and head of the military-medical administration of the Defense Ministry Aliaksei Yaskou. Later it became known about the detention of Deputy Minister of Health Ihar Lasitski, head physician of Minsk regional hospital Andrei Karalko, Director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Traumatology and Orthopedics Aliaksandr Bialetski, chief physician of the 9th hospital Valer Kushniarenka and endoscopic department head Andrei Sauchanka.