Aleksandr Lukashenko hears out report of SCC Chairman Alexander Yakobson

    President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Chairman of the State Control Committee (SCC) Alexander Yakobson to receive his report on 25 July.

    The head of state said he wanted a report about the problems that the State Control Committee had kept an eye on recently and suggested discussing several personnel matters in view of the optimization the agency had undergone. The meeting also focused on the results of audit in the insurance sector and energy saving.

    Alexander Yakobson also informed the President about the practical implementation of presidential Decree No. 488 “Concerning measures to prevent the illegal minimization of tax liabilities”. The decree aims to fight shadow companies. The head of state was informed about the measures taken in this sphere and the considerable economic effect produced by the document.

    In particular, the financial police of the State Control Committee have stepped up efforts to detect and rule out shadow schemes used to sell merchandise in Belarus and abroad. In 2013 illegal activities of three criminal groups involved in the shadow export of dairy products to Russia were suppressed. As many as eight criminal cases were opened.

    Aleksandr Lukashenko was informed about the fulfillment of his instruction to increase control over the insurance services market. Problems at the legislative level and at the level of individual insurance companies have been detected, including Belgosstrakh and Eximgarant of Belarus.

    The State Control Committee has come up with measures to correct the existing situation on the insurance market and relevant proposals have been forwarded to the Council of Ministers.

    The President was informed about the audit of the energy and resource saving measures, first of all, in the utilities sector. The same kind of work was done in the past with regard to the Energy Ministry system.

    “Today we have also seen a series of major problems in the public utilities sector that fail to comply with guidelines on saving resources and energy. An increase in prime costs results in higher tariffs that people have to pay in the end,” Alexander Yakobson said.

    As for the optimization of the Committee’s structure, Alexander Yakobson said that the number of personnel had been reduced by more than 26%. Due to the changes the State Control Committee Chairman ran several personnel decisions past the President.