Bank lifts sanctions on Belarusian spa in Lithuania s Druskininkai lrt.lt - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lrt.lt Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Swedbank doubles down on sanctions against Belarusian spa in Lithuania
BNS2021.05.26 09:52
Belorus spa in Druskininkai. / BNS
Swedbank says it has carried out an assessment of a Belarusian-owned spa in Druskininkai, southern Lithuania, finding that the business is controlled by Viktor Sheiman who reports directly to Alexander Lukashenko.
The bank has therefore denied the Belorus spa s request for temporary access to its accounts, which Swedbank froze in December last year due to sanctions against the Belarusian regime.
According to the Lithuanian Centre of Registers, the spa in Druskininkai is owned by the Main Economic Office (GHU) at the Belarusian president s administration. In late 2020, the EU imposed sanctions against the Main Economic Office (GHU), while Sheiman was included into the EU s sanctions list more than a decade ago.
Belarusian spa in Lithuania goes to court over asset freezes
7
Belorus spa in Druskininkai / D. Umbrasas/LRT
Belorus, a spa in southern Lithuania owned by the Belarusian president s office, has filed a lawsuit over asset freezes it was subjected to under the sanctions on the Minsk government.
In December, Lithuania s Swedbank froze the accounts of the Druskininkai-based spa, leaving its mostly Lithuanian workforce without pay. The bank said it was required to do so under the EU s sanctions.
The court told BNS on Friday it had not yet received the spa s request.
According to the Lithuanian Centre of Registers, Belorus is owned by the Management Department of the Belarusian president s administration. The department, headed by Viktor Sheyman, reports directly to Alexander Lukashenko.
On Tuesday, Lithuania’s Health Ministry said it found 804 previously unaccounted coronavirus-related deaths. It was established that 324 deaths [of Covid-19] and 480 deaths of coronavirus-infected persons from other causes were not accounted for, the ministry said in a statement.
The discrepancy in numbers arose after comparing the October–December statistics at the National Public Health Centre, which was previously tasked with keeping track of the pandemic, with the data at the Lithuanian Centre of Registers.
The country’s Statistics Office, which publishes the daily Covid-19 reports, hasn’t yet updated the coronavirus death toll.
Due to a spiking number of infections, the information on Covid-19 deaths in the country could have been delayed due to an increased workload at the hospitals, according to Justina Petravičienė from the NVSC.