Tatsiana Zaretskaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tatsiana Zaretskaya | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Website | tatsianazaretskaya |
Tatsiana Zaretskaya (Belarusian: Таццяна Зарэцкая; born 1994) is a Belarusian entrepreneur and the co-founder of the software firm Laava Tech.[1] Zaretskaya was nominated to the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet in September 2022, with responsibility for Finance and Economy.[2][3] On 2 November 2022, she announced that she had resigned from the Cabinet as a result of weeks of threats to her family, friends, and employees.[4] Following her resignation, independent media published investigations raising significant doubts about the viability and legitimacy of her business.
In 2024, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) launched a criminal fraud investigation into Zaretskaya and Laava Tech, demanding the return of over €2 million in European Union subsidies.[5]
Tatsiana Zaretskaya was born in 1994 in Minsk, Belarus, to a family of chemists.[6] She initially studied international relations at the Belarusian State University before transferring to an educational program in Estonia. She also has training as a lawyer.[7][6]
Laava Tech
At the age of 23,[8] Zaretskaya co-founded Laava Tech, a software firm based in Tallinn that claimed to develop software and hardware for minimizing energy use in LEDs for indoor farming.[1] Zaretskaya described Laava Tech's system as providing a fully automated system for controlling lighting, air flows, and irrigation, using Internet of things sensors for monitoring.[8] She claimed the technology could reduce electricity consumption by 75% while simultaneously improving crop yields by 20%.[6] Based on these pitches, Laava Tech secured a European Union grant of around €2.4 million.[5]
United Transitional Cabinet
On 9 September 2022, Zaretskaya was announced as the member of the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet responsible for Finance and Economy.[2][3] Prior to her appointment, she passed a polygraph test administered by the BYPOL initiative and a security check by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[9]
Two months later, on 2 November 2022, Zaretskaya announced her resignation from the Cabinet, citing severe pressure and threats to people around her. She stated that there had been "a barrage of anonymous messages, letters, calls, direct threats" to her friends, relatives, employees, partners, and investors.[4]
Following the resignation, Zerkalo and Nasha Niva attempted to interview Zaretskaya about the threats, as well as the technology, revenue, and overall success of Laava Tech.[10][6] Zaretskaya answered questions regarding the threats but avoided providing any detailed answers concerning her business, and reportedly threatened journalists with lawsuits for investigating her company.[10][6]
Democratic leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya later admitted that the Cabinet made a mistake by failing to conduct a thorough background check and proper due diligence on Zaretskaya's business claims before appointing her.[9]