Passport printing company in Lithuania linked to oligarch close to Lukashenko regime
The Lithuanian company Garsų pasaulis, which prints passports in Lithuania, is associated with Viktor Shevtsov, an oligarch close to the Minsk regime.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.
According to an investigation by Lithuanian journalists, in 2011, the company that ran Garsų pasaulis together with the Belarusian holographic industry monopoly, which produces holograms, founded a joint company GP Holographics in Lithuania. It provided Garsų pasaulis with hologram film used in the production of documents for third countries. Among the shareholders of the Holographic Industry is Shevtsov, who is known as the wallet of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
The head of Garsų pasaulis, Anna Janauskienė, said that all ties with GP Holographics ceased in 2022 after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine - the company's shares were sold and no more goods are ordered.
According to journalists, Garsų pasaulis sold GP Holographics shares to Shevtsov through an intermediary. Nevertheless, Garsų pasaulis and GP Holographics are still registered in Vilnius at the same address and have the same administrator and accountant.
Currently, 70% of GP Holographics shares are owned by Shevtsov. Another 10% belongs to the Belarusian company Holographic Industry, and 15% to the latter's CEO Alexander Babarenko.
As Ukrinform reported, at the end of April, the Lithuanian Seimas extended the law on national sanctions against citizens of Russia and Belarus for a year, making certain amendments to it.
Photo credit: BNS