OREANDA-NEWS. On 10 April 2009 was announced, that, President Alexander Lukashenko had met with Chairman of the State Control Committee (SCC) Zenon Lomat to receive his report.

Zenon Lomat informed the President on the results of the Committee’s work in Q1 2009.

According to Zenon Lomat, since the beginning of 2009 the SCC has been holding inspections strictly in accordance with Decree No689 ‘On Some Measures to Improve Control and Supervision Activities’. Inspections are carried out only in case there is reliable data indicating there has been a breach of the law, and in criminal cases.

The number of inspections reduced two times during the period in review, from 2,535 in Q1 2008 to 1,267 in Q1 2009, which had no negative effect on the quality of work of the Committee. Over Br64 billion was withdrawn and recovered by state (21 per cent more than in 2008). More officials were given administrative punishment.

The President was informed on the results of the inspection into the use by judicial institutions of state funds allocated for construction, repair and acquisition of material and technical resources.

Another issue touched upon during the report was lease payment and sublease. The Head of State tasked the related bodies to design a legal act in the near future, which would define the general procedure of lease payment in Belarus.

Zenon Lomat told the President about shortcomings found in the operation of insurance companies, in particular the Belarusian National Reinsurance Organisation (BNRO) which statutory fund was established through the use of state budget money. Its main revenues the company derives by investing the money it takes from its statutory fund in banks in the form of deposits. At the same time, the company does not perform enough reinsurance operations. Roughly a half of the insurance premiums it gets from Belarusian insurance companies are transferred outside of the country. As a result, in 2007 and over nine months in 2008 the company reported a USD 3.5 million foreign services deficit.

The President was informed on the situation at so-called Belarus-Russia border checkpoints, where mainly insurance companies keep their representatives. According to Zenon Lomat, border checkpoints at the external border of the Belarus-Russia Union State meet international standards, whereas the situation at the checkpoints at the Belarus-Russia border requires prompt action to improve the existing infrastructure, including road services and currency exchange offices and create better conditions for insurance procedures.

According to the head of the Committee, the Council of Ministers has been tasked to develop standard requirements regarding how these checkpoints should be equipped so as to make entering Belarus as comfortable as possible.