Marriage fraud: How Aliaksei Aleksin’s unfamed relatives help the tobacco king evade sanctions

Andrei Hubanau’s CV includes another curious workplace. In 2012, he was a deputy director at Atenais, according to data provided by CyberPartisans. This company is the registered owner of the Shangri La Casino in the capital. 

Investigators had previously reported that Atenais was owned by a Cypriot company, Roslaton Holdings Limited, from 2011 to 2019. In 2019, this offshore company declassified its subsidiary in the reports – an Emirati company Petrotrade FZE, owned and managed by Dzmitry Aleksin. But in the very year that Aleksin’s Petrotrade FZE got exposed in the accounts of Roslaton Holdings Limited, the latter withdrew as the management company of the Belarusian Shangri La. The share was transferred to another Cypriot company, Demistat Company Limited. The ultimate beneficiary of Demistat Company Limited is the Russian Mekhti Mekhtiev. Together with Dzmitry Aleksin, they act as directors of the Turkish company MSDF, which owns a shopping center in Istanbul.

The involvement of Andrei Hubanau, Aliaksei Aleksin’s co-father-in-law, in the activities of Atenais serves to confirm the participation of a prominent Belarusian businessman in the Shangri La Casino.

SHADY LEGACY

Aliaksei Aleksin seems to persist in utilising the established yet flawed strategy of “whitewashing” assets through their transfer to relatives and trusted individuals. 

One of the key “keepers” of the Aleksin business, both before and after the imposition of sanctions, has been Dzmitry, the eldest son. He has a financial interest in the aforementioned Belneftegaz, Energo-Oil, Grantlo and IT company Kotvek. Some of the firms that could and should have been saved from the sanctions blockade were transferred to the custody of Viktoria Hubanava, his undisclosed wife, and Andrei Hubanau, Dzmitry’s father-in-law. 

Buro has reason to believe that Dzmitry Aleksin and Viktoria Hubanava are not merely nominal participants in the business processes of Lukashenko’s “moneybag”, but may be full-fledged owners. 

On 19 January 2020, a business jet Embraer Legacy 650 with the side number OE-ITA flew from Minsk to Basel. The company on board was pretty interesting: Dzmitry Aleksin, his wife Viktoria Hubanava and their one-month-old daughter Michelle. The family was accompanied by Yana Levaneuskaya, who used to work for Aleksin at Gaz Venture, Aliaksandr Maroz, who’s a member of Lukashenko’s Security Service, Siarhei Zeliankevich, an ex-employee of Lukashenko’s administration and second secretary of the Foreign Ministry, and Lukashenko’s eldest son Viktor.

However, there is more to the story, as the tobacco king has another son, Vital. Buro discovered that he had a secret spouse, too.  

DANCING ON BONES

The month of August 2020 saw a significant increase in violent incidents in Belarus, representing some of the most turbulent days in the country’s recent history. The government’s violent dispersal of peaceful protesters, inhuman torture in detention, and the flooding of streets and avenues with crowds protesting the political crisis, which was provoked by the stolen presidential election, has been met with international condemnation. Aliaksandr Taraikouski was shot dead by security forces, which is remembered as one of the most tragic days in recent history. On 15 August 2020, thousands of people gathered in public spaces to lay flowers at a spontaneous memorial and observe a moment of silence in memory of the police victim. 

At that precise moment, 7 km from the memorial, at the Lebyazhiy restaurant, there was no sign of grief or mourning for the deceased. In contrast, the guests gathered in a different, more celebratory setting to congratulate newlyweds Nadzeya Zaitsava and Vital Aleksin.

The wedding party of Nadzeya Zaitsava and Vital Aleksin. Source: Wedding photographer website 

The banquet hall was tastefully decorated in a truly magnificent style. The bridal couple’s praesidium was a four-metre-high structure adorned with live peonies and regular roses. The panel was enhanced by one-and-a-half-metre compositions of live hydrangeas and roses of pastel colours, complemented by the addition of artificial candles on the tables, which contributed to the overall ambience. The groom maintained a low profile and was not exposed on socials by the guests or organisers.

Banquet hall décor at Nadzeya Zaitsava’s wedding party. Source: Wedding planner’s Instagram account 

The calories consumed from the exquisite cuisine could be offset with the help of esteemed celebrity guests, Verka Serdyuchka and rap duo HammAli & Navai.

Celebrities perform at Nadzeya Zaitsava’s wedding. Source: Wedding photographer website 

The evening’s finale was a substantial four-tiered cake, adorned with a floral “cap”.

Wedding cake at Nadzeya Zaitsava’s wedding. Source: Wedding planner’s Instagram account 

The fact that Aliaksei Aleksin’s youngest son had also found personal happiness and tied the knot would probably go unnoticed by the public and journalists. Vital, just like his brother Dzmitry, was trying to keep their wedding and themselves out of the public eye. Buro was able to confirm this event thanks to the same car belonging to Aliaksei Aleksin – a rare 1949 Mercury Monterey. The wedding photos of Nadeya Zaitsava in this convertible were discovered in the portfolio of the same photographer who captured the celebration of Dzmitry Aleksin and Viktoria Hubanava.

Nadeya Zaitsava’s wedding shoot. Source: Wedding photographer website 

Buro has also determined that Nadzeya Aleksina, maiden name Zaitsava, is not currently an owner or manager in any company within the Aleksin business empire. Nevertheless, we felt it necessary to disclose the fact of her marriage to Vital Aleksin in order to prevent attempts by Lukashenko’s moneybag to transfer assets to his second daughter-in-law.

Source: buromedia.io