Eye surgery center owner, staff suspected of tax evasion

April 17, BPN. The Belarusian State Control Committee says it has opened a tax evasion case against the owner and four employees of the Novy Zrok medical center.

Over the past five years, 50 employees received more than 2.5 million rubels (some $990,000) in salaries paid under the table, the committee said on Telegram on April 17.

“The salaries ‘in envelopes’ were mainly funded from abroad in foreign cash,” it added.

The suspects’ properties have been frozen.

The Novy Zrok (New Vision) clinics, located in Minsk, Mahiloŭ, Hrodna, Viciebsk, and Brest, have performed 1.5 million laser eye surgeries for cataract, retinal diseases, and glaucoma, according to the company website.

Novy Zrok was founded by Aleh Kaŭryhin, who owns a medical center of the same name in Vilnius, where he has been a permanent resident since 2012. The businessman also opened the British Ophthalmological Center in Kyiv.

In 2013, Kaŭryhin was investigated for possible involvement in smuggling ophthalmic equipment across the customs border. In 2017, the case was closed for lack of evidence, Tut.by reported.