Tax Inspection Cancelled Decision of Collecting 380 Million BYR Taxes and Penalties from Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Minsk tax inspection cancelled its decision to collect 380 million BYR (190 000 USD) of taxes and penalties from Belarusian Helsinki Committee. Failure to pay this amount, extremely high according to the Criminal Code, became the reason for an action against the BHC head and chief accountant. However, the criminal case was not dropped with the cancellation of the tax committee decision.
The borough tax inspection is only to re-count the debt under the new Lukashenka’s decree, which cut the penalties to legal entities which failed to pay taxes. Deputy head of Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahaniayla has already voiced the new amount which will probably be imposed on the NGO. Human rights activists expect the amount will drop from 380 million to 110-120 million BYR (60 000 USD).
Belarusian Helsinki Committee has already filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office supervising the action against the organization leadership. The case is investigated by officials of the Financial Investigation Department of the State Control Committee. The complaint also informs the prosecutor about procedure violations made by the investigators. BHC says they presented all the documents demanded by the investigation. So far BHC members have not been interrogated.