Media: Belavia Plane Turned Because Of Sugar Mills Directors

Has the "sugar producers' case" been initiated in Belarus?

According to unconfirmed information, law enforcement officers arrested Mikalai Prudnik, director of the Slutsk Sugar Refinery. This has been reported to the SlutskGorod website by several unrelated sources.

Eyewitnesses say that the house of the sugar plant director was searched on Saturday. Mikalai Prudnik's mobile phone is not available today, the company says: nothing is known about the detention of the director.

- Mikalai Prudnik is on vacation, he is quite a reserved person, and I do not know if he was going abroad, - Valeryj Naliotau, deputy director of the Slutsk Sugar Refinery on economy, said.

The news about the Belavia plane, which was turned over Poland to return director of the Haradzeya Sugar Factory Mikhail Kryshtapovich and general director of Mahiliou Khimvalakno Piotr Rudnik, to Belarus, was among the most discussed last weekend.

However, the Mahiliou Khimvalakno reception office says: the information in the press is not true, Piotr Rudnik has not been detained and is now at his workplace. This information has been confirmed by other employees of the enterprise by phone.

There is reason to believe that the witnesses didn't hear properly the names of the passengers who were asked to leave the plane turned to Hrodna - Rudnik, but not Prudnik. The unverified information was spread by Belarusian social networks and media.

A source close to Prudnik's entourage confirmed to journalists that the director was going to fly on vacation. Kryshtapovich and Prudnik are of the same age; both have been running sugar factories for over 15 years and are on official vacation now.

The tut.by portal writes with reference to the local residents that on Saturday the Haradzeya Sugar Factory was also searched and the office of the director was sealed.

Also, social networks report about the detention of the Zhabinka Sugar Refinery director, Viktar Mironau, in the evening of January 24 - allegedly for a bribe of $20,000. The Virtual Brest portal reported, citing its own sources, that the head of Zhabinka Sugar Refinery had also been searched.

Journalists have tried to call the press services of the State Border Committee, the Investigative Committee and the KGB - law enforcement agencies do not comment on the situation. The whereabouts of Mikalai Prudnik and other directors are not known at the moment, there is no official information yet.

63-year-old Mikalai Prudnik was born and grew up in the village of Selishcha, Slutsk district. In the 70's he came to work to the Slutsk Sugar Refinery as an agronomist, in the 90's he headed the agronomic service, in 1999 he became deputy director for raw materials, and since 2004 he has been director of the enterprise. According to media reports, he is expected to retire in 2020.

The Slutsk Sugar Refinery is one of the main town-forming enterprises, and for several years it has been recognized as the best sugar refinery in the UAE.

NEXTA also claims that Skidzel sugar refinery director Dzmitry Yahorau has been detained as well.