Store Director Tried In Belarus For 26-Kapeyka Price Increase For Cheese

The first sentence was passed in the case of “overvaluation of prices”.

In Mahiliou, the trial of the store director, who, according to the prosecution, unjustifiably, “intentionally and for selfish reasons” increased the price of cheese, then “undermined the authority of the state administration”. This is the first verdict in the case of violation of the moratorium on price increases in Belarus, the website officelife.media writes.

A 46-year-old Mahiliou resident, director of the double liability company, was on the dock. He owns a country store in the suburbs of Mahiliou. When directive #10 and the resolution of the Council of Ministers “On temporary measures to stabilize prices” entered into force, the nuances of its application caused confusion for the entrepreneur, as it did for many in those days.

As a result, on October 8, the price of Suluguni cheese from Babushkina Krynka in the store turned out to be higher than the price on October 5. The violation was noticed by a representative of the “monitoring working group” from the local “village executive committee”. The day before, on October 7, she was in the store and photographed the price tags. Comparing the prices before and after, the woman noticed that the price of cheese increased by 26 kapeykas per kilogram.

In court, the witness explained that she passed the information on this to the district executive committee. She did not make any comments to the store owner about this, and did not demand the return of the old price tag. Allegedly, she was instructed by the district chiefs to do so.

The lawyer of the accused, who in this case referred to the absence of a crime as such, drew attention to this fact. The entrepreneur was guided by simple logic: the manufacturer sold the goods to him at a new price — accordingly, he raised the price.

In addition, the volume of trade in the rural store is small, the entrepreneur ordered and put on the counter less than ten packages of cheese. The total amount of the excess was only 78 kapeykas. None of the packages had yet been sold when the businessman was detained and all his property was seized.

As a result, during the arguments, the prosecution requested the least punishment for the accused, provided for in Part 2 of Article 424 (“Misuse of official powers in the formation of retail funds”), two years of imprisonment with a one-year sentence suspension. If during this time the man does not break the law, the sentence will not be executed. The court agreed with this and did not impose a fine on the accused. However, the director of the double liability company is not entitled to hold certain positions.

Only in the first four days of the moratorium, more than a dozen criminal cases were initiated in Belarus for raising prices, according to the State Control Committee. There were both cases of small excesses and major cases in trade networks. After Resolution #713 introduced a new system of shadow regulation, the moratorium ended.