Aliaksandr Lukashenka pardoned the owner of Biocom group of companies Andrei Paulouski who is also a member of the Council of the Republic, the upper chamber of Belarus' National Assembly. Criminal charges were dropped after the businessman had compensated the losses worth of $20 million, KGB chairman Valery Vakulchyk said on March 15, reports BelaPAN.
Andrei Paulouski was deprived of immunity status in October 2015, when criminal cases were opened against him and six other representatives of Biocom under the article in the Penal Code that deals with large-scale tax evasion (Br144 billion). Paulouski faced up to 7 years in prison and confiscation of his property. He was initially held in a KGB pretrial detention center. In late November 2015, the former senator was placed under house arrest.