Byelorussia admits irregularities in Venezuela

Byelorussia's Head of State admitted irregularities in the building project that his country develops in Venezuela. The National Government has not even spoken on the subject, but TV cable channels from Western Europe have certainly been warning that the very president Aleksandr Lukashenko informed -about a month ago- on infractions in these lands.

Venezuela's Head of State declared on December 23, on the Christmas eve, that Viktor Shevtsov and other Byelorussian businessmen who hold deals with Venezuela, are currently facing a judicial process. During a press conference and in front of an auditory occupied by foreign correspondents, he pointed out that they must account for, on the one hand, cases such as the transfer of some funds that disappeared from the map, and on the other hand, irregularities related to the facilities they have been building in the national territory.

"Denunciations against him -on theft and money extraction- have been issued, and complaints and law violations in Venezuela concerning the building project of housing units which are carried out there arose," he said. "All that came to light."

Last time Shevtsov was seen in Venezuela, was last year at the end of September. By then, he was still responsible for Belzarubezhstroy (BZS), one of the companies which managed to close a significant share of deals that Venezuela's government offered to Byelorussia's government.

The witnesses who saw him those days, remember him as a kind person, as usual, walking around Caracas. However, during the almost three following months, there was no official news on his whereabouts. Although his detention was a secret already divulged by the Byelorussian press since October of the previous year, Lukashenko finally broke the silence last month, and informed that the magnate was in some jail of that country and available to the Byelorussian KGB.

"I believe he is isolated, but the only thing I know is that if he does not pay the money he stole, he will remain in jail," Lukashenko clarified when he was asked about the businessman who enjoyed the privileges of the Byelorussian government for years.

Lukashenko, anyway, dismissed the case. He said that this concerned an ordinary criminal trial; he indicated that other court cases are much more serious than this one, and after authorizing the disclosure of more information on the matter, associated director of the press office of the Byelorussian KGB, Artur Strej, stated that very night on the state-run TV channel, Byelorussia 1, that Lukashenko and other businessmen face criminal charges for a case in which preliminary calculations report that more than USD 10 million have disappeared.

"Byelorussian investigators are currently pursuing their investigations in order to verify the detained businessman's participation in illegal acts committed during the planning and execution of economic projects in Venezuela," added on December 23 the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, Belta, in one of the notes which have been suggesting corruption and rebar smuggling in the urban developments that Venezuela's government entrusted to Lukashenko's government.

The Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc) also reported on January 18, 2011 that rebar smuggling from the Byelorussian company had been confiscated on La Raiza road in Santa Teresa del Tuy area.

Digital gossip

In Caracas, however, Byelorussian workers promise that they continue working lawfully, and that their company's goodwill has suffered because of false accusations, which have been flying around on the media websites of Western Europe since the last days of last year.

It is true that one of their managers is in jail and also faces charges in his country, but BZS deputy director Andrei Atrashkevich affirms that such criminal investigation has nothing to do with the deals held in Venezuela. "Mr. Viktor Shevtsov's affair refers to events in Iraq; it concerns projects he carried out previously, which have no relation with the current situation in Venezuela."

BZS company can indeed operate without the Byelorussian magnate, who since 2004 has been accused by the American government of gunrunning and money-laundering during the reconstruction of Iraq. Its deputy director insists on that and points out that although Shevtsov headed the corporate board of directors, the Byelorusian Ministry of Architecture and Construction is responsible for most actions.

Shevtsov is a fallen tree. Not in vain, the pictures that showed him in company with president Chávez were deleted from the company's website. The executives who are still in charge of the housing project maintain the distance and guarantee that the Byelorussian industries, the construction machineries and the Byelorussian agro-communes scheduled in Caracas and in the states of Aragua, Barinas, Guárico and Miranda will keep on track.

BZS Company will continue working in Venezuela, its deputy director unholds. However, only 4% of the almost 17,500 houses which they promised to build in Caracas and Maracay cities more than four years ago - have been delivered so far. For instance, the ones in Fuerte Tiuna area, are still nothing else but an unused plot of land with a fence post in Turmerito sector, which indicates the place where 10,000 apartments are to be constructed.

Unlike the buildings and telescopic cranes that are erected on the military base accompanied by Russian flags; in the neighboring plot property of BZS there is just an empty piece of land surrounded by wire fence. Director of the company Maxim Erokhov promised swiftness a year ago, in front of president Chávez. "We will build and project in parallel so that we do not waste our time," he expressed on December 18, 2010 during a live broadcast from Fuerte Tiuna. "You will be able to see results in two month's time."

The company -however- now warns that in spite of the delays, the projects will be restarted. Buildings to be erected in the air force base El Libertador, in the city of Maracay, are pending business as well as the inauguration of a building material making factory that is being constructed in the industrial zone of Guatire.

Byelorussian ministers, ambassadors and businessmen indicated in the same meeting occurred in 2010, that in 2011 they would be already extracting clay and producing bricks in that spot of Miranda state. The promise, for the good or for the bad, also extended to the current year since it has not taken place yet.

Nonetheless, in Guasimal sector in the city of Maracay, there is evidence already of the Byelorussian cooperation: 720 houses were inaugurated last December 29 in one of the addresses, which president Chávez set for delivering the houses.

First finished constructions

Leaving the news reports on television aside, the rain victim families who happened to obtain shelter in that complex have complaints. They warn that their apartments were not finished by the day they were taken to the place. Between December 29 and January 3, they had no electric power supply, among other services. "Some pipes were blocked and black-colored water leaked by the drains and toilet bowls," remembers one of the new residents.

Although she and the rest of her neighbors open their doors with just one condition - to leave clear they are thankful to President Chávez- they are certain that Chávez is not aware of the existent conditions when they were delivered their new apartments. Some indicate leaks, others complain about the cement floor, and there are also those who protest for sockets and defective electrical connections. "They are finishing the apartments with one inside them," concludes another resident without providing her name.

Be it good or bad, those in BZS warn that they have just delivered the first houses from the many to be constructed. Corporate deputy director Andrei Atrashkevich announces that in February at the very latest they will be inaugurating other buildings in the apartment complex they are currently constructing in Guasimal sector in Maracay city.

As for that construction, Lukashenko has been promising the houses entrusted by President Chávez. The trade exchange between the two countries reached up to USD 2 billion; the USD 6 million that had been billed in 2006, multiplied itself more than 330 times in five years' time. And this is about a symbiosis, he highlights.

"The fact of the matter is that we did not head for Venezuela like nobodies with the purpose of drilling oil and walking away," he mentioned in September 2010. "Our job is to build houses; we are building whole cities, we drill crude oil and they are pleased with our help."

jpoliszuk@eluniversal.com

Translated by Adrián Valera Villani