Please don't use my taxes when court will solve this problem, use the wages of Lithuanian bureucrats: As carriers seek legal ways to pay Minsk for storing trucks, Lithuanian bureaucrats from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board point to sanctions violations

 

“Without carriers knowing how to legally settle accounts with the European Union (EU) sanctioned Belarusian company – the owner of the Minsk storage facilities for detained trucks – either settling accounts directly, through intermediaries in Belarus or in cash would be considered a violation of sanctions, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (FCIB) says.

 

Meanwhile, the National Association of Road Carriers Linava claims that carriers are not receiving clear advice from the FCIB on how to settle accounts legally. They believe that carriers who have already recovered their trucks have likely settled accounts with Beltamozhservice through partners in Belarus, thus potentially violating sanctions.

 

According to the FCIB, any settlement with Beltamozhservice is prohibited by the EU regulation on sanctions against Belarus and the national Law on International Sanctions.

 

“The provisions of the Regulation and the law provide grounds to state that payments to the sanctioned “Beltamozhservice” should be considered as providing funds to a sanctioned person prohibited by the Regulation. Payment to a sanctioned entity through third parties may be assessed as a violation of the prohibition on participating in activities that violate the freezing of funds and economic resources and the prohibition on allowing the use of funds and economic resources,” the FNTT stated in a comment to BNS.

 

“The Regulation is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all EU member states, and is binding on all legal entities that are registered or established in accordance with the law of a member state,” the service emphasized.

It was possible to pay through Belarusian partners

 

According to the data of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), from the beginning of last week until midnight on Tuesday, 451 tractors detained in Minsk from late October to mid-November last year have already crossed the Lithuanian border. According to Giedrius Mišutis, a representative of the State Border Service, a larger flow of returning trucks and semi-trailers has been recorded again in the past 24 hours.

 

According to the border guard representative, 236 vehicles have already returned through the Medininkai checkpoint, and 215 through Šalčinkai. Minsk announced that more than 1,900 trucks and semi-trailers have been detained in the country. According to Linava's calculations, there were many more.

 

Erlandas Mikėnas, president of Linava, told BNS that most carriers cannot return their vehicles because there is no way to settle accounts with Beltamozhservice.

 

"The situation is such that carriers do not have the opportunity to pay safely and fairly. If they do not pay, they do not return the trucks to us," E. Mikėnas told BNS.

 

“The company that stored, as we call it, those trucks is sanctioned, so Lithuanian companies cannot pay that company – banks do not make transfers to it, and cash cannot be taken out in euros (to Belarus – BNS),” he emphasized.

 

According to E. Mikėnas, up to 10,000 euros in cash can be brought into Belarus by declaring it in another currency, for example, in US dollars, but such an amount would not cover the carriers’ debts for the four-month storage of the trucks: “The amounts owed by carriers are 50,000 and 100,000 euros, and more.”

 

When asked how the owners of the recovered trucks could settle accounts with the sanctioned company, E. Mikėnas explained that the companies are looking for ways to do this through partners in Belarus.

 

"However, it is difficult for us to decide whether this will be treated as a circumvention of sanctions. Therefore, carriers are worried and are asking, looking for help. We do not have an answer," said E. Mikėnas.

 

According to the FNTT, both payments through intermediaries and in cash also violate sanctions.

 

"The regulation also prohibits paying Belarus in the currency of EU member states in cash:  It is prohibited to transfer banknotes of the official currency of any member state to Belarus or to any person, entity or organization in Belarus, including the Belarusian government and central bank, or for use in Belarus," the FNTT explained to BNS.

No answer from the FNTT about a legal way out

 

According to E. Mikėnas, carriers are consulting with the FNTT to help them avoid fines for violating sanctions, but they are not receiving a clear answer or advice - the FNTT repeats that payments to Belarusians are prohibited.

 

"The carriers themselves were interested, called, searched, but there were no answers (how to proceed - BNS). This is a sanctioned company and the answers are very simple, that you cannot pay," the head of "Linava" told BNS.

 

The FNTT did not comment to BNS on whether such consultations are taking place and what legal solution would be possible.

 

"The carriers were held hostage for four months and after four months we still do not have those answers, which is very annoying for the carriers," said E. Mikėnas.

 

According to him, businessmen are afraid of fines for circumventing sanctions, because they would be equal to a parking fee: "If it is still worthwhile to pay six thousand for a truck and only then pick it up, then twelve thousand is not."

 

Trucks can leave the yards since last week

 

As BNS reported, the first trucks and semi-trailers of Lithuanian companies, which had been parked in special yards in Belarus for about four months, crossed the border last Tuesday,  with the permission of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

 

E. Mikėnas previously said that due to high taxes, carriers may not be able to return about half of the freight vehicles.

 

Juras Taminskas, the Minister of Transport, previously said that until there are clear figures on how many trucks were stuck in Belarus, it is too early to talk about compensating carriers for losses.

 

The trucks can only leave after the carriers pay for their storage in the yards. Belarusian authorities announced that this fee is “several times lower” than the 120 euros per day fee previously set by Minsk.

 

The Minsk regime detained the Lithuanian vehicles last October after Prime Minister Ruginienė temporarily closed the border due to the flow of smuggled balloons flying from Belarus to Lithuania, which repeatedly halted the work of Vilnius Airport. Although the border was later opened, with the balloons still flying, when Ruginienę came to her senses too late, but Minsk still did not let the trucks out of the country, directed them to special yards, and promised to confiscate them.”