A businessman’s murder, a money laundering scheme tied to high-ranking officials, and luxury real estate in Dubai worth millions — this investigation unravels like a gripping crime thriller.
Journalists of BRC uncovered them by investigating the activities of a successful Minsk casino. Thanks to the testimony of a former employee of the leader of a criminal organization, journalists understood how the money laundering scheme from illegal online bets works. And they found out the connection of its authors with the KGB and the Ministry of Defence of Belarus.
In the summer of 2021, the largest casino in Belarus, H Casino, as its owners presented it, opened in the multifunctional center Galleria Minsk. In the first six months, it made more than the long-standing market players in the capital: the profit exceeded $7.5 million. And by 2023, H Casino became the most profitable casino in Belarus. Although there were no reasons for this — at the end of the last decade, the industry was experiencing a decline.
In five years — since the beginning of 2015, the number of gambling establishments in the country has decreased by approximately 25%, said the head of the Association for the Protection of the Interests of Belarusian Gambling Organizers, Alesya Pakhomenko, to journalists in October 2019.
The situation could be worsened, among other things, by rising taxes. For example, the tax on a gaming slot increased by 12.5% from 2016 to 2021, and on a betting shop cash register — by 230%.
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic also had a negative impact on the market. This is indicated by the amount of paid gambling business taxes — from 47.3 million Belarusian rubles in 2018 (in the previous four years it was also higher) decreased to 39.6 million. In addition, some players moved online due to COVID-19.
BRC found out how H Casino succeeded under such conditions and what the KGB has to do with it.
Turkish Baron
The story of Belarusian H Casino began in Turkey. Local media in February 2022 reported the murder of businessman Halil Falyalı in northern Cyprus. It was reported that armed men shot at his car. The driver died on the spot. Falyalı received 16 gunshot wounds and died in the hospital.
The murdered businessman had great wealth and a criminal reputation. Falyalı owned a casino and the Les Ambassadeur hotel in northern Cyprus, lived with his wife and three children in a mansion by the Mediterranean Sea.
OCCRP journalists managed to find another proof of Falyalı’s connection with Şhener and Minsk H Casino. This was confirmed by Falyalı’s former CFO Cemil Önal, who is imprisoned in a Dutch jail. Investigators contacted his lawyer in March 2024 after they discovered audio recordings, allegedly of Önal’s voice, on the YouTube channel of an exiled Turkish reporter. It took five months to obtain permission for an interview with the incarcerated. The first conversation took place in August of the previous year.
Cemil Önal was the CFO in Falyalı’s companies, according to him, from 2014 until November 2021.
Journalists were able to confirm that he officially worked there at least from 2016 to 2020. In 2018, Turkish prosecutors accused him of laundering money for a criminal organization engaged in illegal online betting. In 2022, he became a suspect in Falyalı’s murder. In December 2023, Önal was arrested in the Netherlands at Turkey’s request.
The prisoner insists that he is not involved in his boss’s death, and due to the compromising material he knows about some influential people, he has become a target for the Turkish government. Therefore, Önal and his lawyer are trying to avoid extradition to Turkey. Documents with such requests are in BRC’s possession.
"This Mustafa Egemen Şhener is a friend and partner of Halil Falyalı. Casino F (H — ed.) in Minsk, Belarus, belongs to Mustafa Egemen Şhener. In reality. But Falyalı’s group is a 50% partner (invested half the funds to open the casino — ed.)" explained Önal.
The Turkish army invaded the island in response to a coup organized by Athens to annex the entire Cyprus to Greece.
As a result, the unrecognized territory in the north ceased to adhere to international law and global banking rules, making it more attractive for operations with "dirty" money. After casino gambling was banned in Turkey in 1996, and online gambling prohibited in 2006, northern Cyprus became a local Las Vegas.
OCCRP journalists established that the BetCyp.com website was registered by the company Total Gaming Solutions.
When a player makes a bet on an illegal site online, the money does not go to the casino but rather to a person from the created network. Then they must withdraw the cash at an ATM and give it to the curator — a person who established the work of this scheme. The account owner and curator each receive 5% of the amount. The remaining 90% of the bet goes to Falyalı. Only through approximately a hundred cryptocurrency wallets, about $1.4 billion was moved in this way. This emerges from the Turkish financial crime investigator’s report and its analysis by OCCRP.
"Roof" in Uniform
The gambling business in Belarus is strictly controlled by the state. For example, betting shop cash desks, gaming tables, and slot machines are connected to a special computer cash system that allows relevant authorities to monitor financial flows. Video surveillance is conducted in casinos, including near cash desks. In gaming establishments, player identification is done using a passport. Besides, casinos, slot machine halls are periodically checked. Tax authorities and law enforcement have repeatedly exposed illegal earning schemes in this sphere.
BRC found an explanation why, despite such a strict approach, the activity of H Casino has not attracted the attention of the authorities. It is likely that Belarusian law enforcement is aware of the illegal schemes but does not disrupt its operations. This is evidenced by the aforementioned appeal to the KGB by the person under the nickname yatko.
Cemil Önal claimed in a conversation with an OCCRP journalist that H Casino is "covered" by a former Belarusian law enforcement officer. He couldn’t name the surname. However, he said that he saw this person when communicating with Mustafa Şhener via video link.
BRC investigators took on the task of finding out who it was. Journalists discovered among the contacts of the owner and director of H Casino a list of people associated with the KGB and the Ministry of Defence of Belarus. For example, Mustafa Şhener traveled by car to Lithuania in November 2019 along with Igor Narkevich.
Judging by numerous photos on the website of the All-Russian Public Organization "Russian Wrestling Federation," Murtazaliyev Sr. has friendly relations with Vladimir Kheifets, a former member of the Minsk City Council. For example, in 2015 and 2016 Kheifets participated in runs at the London half-marathon in the team of the TIKO Foundation — at that time the foundation of Omar and Timur Murtazaliyev.
The connection of the owners of "Gallery Concept" with influential people is also indicated by the fact that during the construction of the shopping center in 2012, Alexander Lukashenko issued a decree granting the company tax and customs benefits, some of which were classified.
The surname Al Shene resembles the surname Shener. We have grounds to believe that this might be the new name of H Casino’s owner on an Emirati passport. Firstly, Al Shene’s phone number is linked to a Microsoft account under the name Egemen Shener with his photograph. Secondly, this number is also associated with his name in the GetContact service.
When journalists called him and asked if they were speaking to Shener, the person confirmed it.
In the indictment from the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office, one of the 35 leaders of Halil Falyali’s criminal business empire is indicated as Halil Falyali’s wife — Ozge Tasker Falyali (Özge Taşker Falyalı). In 2023, she purchased a dozen properties in Dubai of a total value of no less than $53 million. Several of her apartments are in the same building as Mustafa Shener’s residence.
Halil Falyali’s civil partner, Belarusian Olga Kotova, owns a 67 sq.m. apartment in Minsk and a 2020 Porsche car.
Journalists sent requests to Ozge Tasker, Omar and Timur Murtazaliyev, and Vladimir Kheifets asking for comments on the findings in the investigation. Journalists also requested KGB if the security services were aware of the casino owners’ illegal activities and Vitaly Matys’ assistance in concealing it. As of the time of the investigation’s publication, the editorial board had not received responses. They also reached out to Mustafa Shener – he hung up.
Автор: Анна Бондаренко Страница для печати
21.01.2026 21:25
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