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We investigate corruption, uncover fake news and analyze the news agenda. The BIC is a member of the global network of investigative journalists.

Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics

BIC is a member of the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)

We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)

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Today

Lukashenko’s “wallet” transferred money through a New Zealand banking system, which made it difficult to trace

Journalists discovered “tobacco king” Aliaksei Aleksin’s name in the leaked files of financial services provider Worldclear.

The BIC obtained leaked internal documents from Worldclear Limited, a New Zealand financial services provider, which may be used to hide cash flows. The documents show that Belarusian businessman Aliaksei Aleksin received several money transfers from a Cyprus-based company. The transactions were labeled as loan repayment.

Customer lists, confidential transaction records, and internal correspondence are among the types of information in the leaked internal Worldclear data. They reveal that customers deposited money into company accounts opened at banks in New Zealand, the United States, Europe, and other locations. From 2014 to 2019, Worldclear processed multimillion-dollar remittances for high-risk clients worldwide.

Aliaksei Aleksin received several transfers from a Cypriot company via Worldclear. They were recorded as loan repayments. These transactions took place in 2017 and 2018, before the Belarusian businessman known as the "tobacco king" was sanctioned. He was placed on the EU and US restrictive lists in 2021. The justification was that Aleksin was named a key supporter of Aleksandr Lukashenko and had business interests in several sectors, including energy.

Aliaksei Aleksin
Source: OCCRP

According to New Zealand anti-money laundering expert Martin Dilly, transferring funds through payment processors is usually slow and expensive. However, clients may use these firms because they make it harder to trace their cash flows.

“Complexity is the friend of people with something to hide,” said Ray Blake, a financial crime expert and director of The Dark Money Files podcast. “It makes it harder for investigators — who might work for the police, the compliance department, the tax authorities, audit bodies or the news media — to untangle the transactions and figure out what has really happened.”

Leaked documents revealed that Worldclear provided services to individuals under criminal investigation or previously convicted of financial crimes. Michael Wilson, a wanted investment fraudster who was later convicted, was among the company's clients. Another was British citizen Guenther Klar, who was later convicted of massive Cum-Ex tax fraud.

Aliaksei Aleksin has not responded to our written requests.

The Center for Corruption and Organized Crime Research (OCCRP), the New Zealand financial news platform Interest.co.nz, the Belarus Investigative Center, the Lithuanian portal 15min.lt, and the Swedish newspaper Expressen released a joint investigation titled “The Worldclear Files” based on the leaked Worldclear documents.

The BIC website will soon feature a detailed story about how Aliaksei Aleksin used the financial system, which you can also watch on our YouTube channel.