Lukashenko demanded money from Babariko
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko demanded that ex-banker Viktor Babariko return the money he allegedly stole in exchange for personal freedom. This condition was set in October during the famous meeting between Lukashenko and the opposition.
The dialogue between the president and the former banker was recounted on CTV by Yuri Voskresensky, who worked at Babariko’s election headquarters and then ended up in a pre-trial detention center with his boss, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“When Victor asked: “So what’s wrong with me, Alexander Grigorievich?”, the president said: “Everything is simple with you. I don't want you to sit. Therefore, return the money that was stolen, and you will not sit in prison.” To which Viktor Dmitrievich says: “Your information does not correspond to reality, I did not appropriate anything.”
To this the president said: “Then there will be an open trial, and everyone will see who appropriated what.” Perhaps these are the conditions for subsequent pardon if the guilt of this or that person is proven,” said Voskresensky, who was released from the pre-trial detention center shortly after the meeting with Lukashenko and is now actively promoting the constitutional reform proposed by the Belarusian president.
At the end of November, the former chairman of the board of Belgazprombank, Viktor Babariko, was charged with accepting bribes and laundering proceeds from crime on an especially large scale. He was arrested back in June when he tried to take part in the presidential elections. Babariko was considered Lukashenko's main potential competitor.
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