In 2005, Sergei founded Promsnab LLC in Smolensk, Russia. The company purchased various metal products in Belarus and then resold them to Russian companies. In mid-May 2024, Promsnab's transport was unexpectedly detained in Belarus. The Borisov Interdistrict Department of the Financial Investigations Department of the State Control Committee opened a criminal case against Sergei Poko under Part 3 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code (tax evasion). The owner of this profitable business was sent to pretrial detention.
Since Sergei owned a property in his native Zhodino, the Financial Investigation Department considered it an unregistered "permanent establishment" of a Russian company in Belarus. Based on this fact, investigators included the company's entire revenue for 13 years in the Belarusian tax base. In October 2024, auditors issued a colossal bill: over 2.8 million Belarusian rubles in additional charges and penalties. The company's lawyers cited a 1995 intergovernmental agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, as the property was used exclusively for procurement and could not legally be considered a representative office.
In November 2024, investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee for the Smolensk Region, together with the Belarusian Financial Investigation Department, conducted a search of Promsnab's office. The company's assets were seized.
Following the lawyers' publications in January 2025, nothing was heard about the businessman's fate for almost a year and a half. Only on July 6, 2026, did his name resurface in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' updated lists.
There is no information whether Poko compensated the damages, and therefore the article was dropped, or the charges were simply reclassified, or whether the tax charges were tried separately.
However, Sergei Poko was convicted under a whole host of political offenses. The final verdict included charges of "inciting hatred" (Part 1 of Article 130), "calls for actions detrimental to national security" (Part 3 of Article 361), and participation in protests (Part 1 of Article 342). A charge of large-scale bribery was also added (Part 3 of Article 431 of the Criminal Code).
The minimum sentence for corruption charges alone is five years in prison, but given the political implications, the sentence could be much longer. Sergei Poko has been recognized as a political prisoner.
