The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), together with the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office and taking into account information provided by the National Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), found signs of a corruption criminal offence under Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illicit enrichment) in a deputy of the Odesa City Council.
Based on the results of the lifestyle monitoring, NACP found that during 2021-2024, the deputy, his family members and related individuals acquired unjustified assets worth more than UAH 81.7 million. These are:
- non-residential premises in Odesa worth UAH 14.9 million and UAH 1.5 million;
- apartments in Odesa worth UAH 7.2 million;
- 100% of the authorised capital of a private company worth almost UAH 12 million;
- a Mercedes-Benz S400 CDI 2021 car worth UAH 5.4 million;
- a house and land plot in the Kingdom of Spain worth UAH 40.7 million.
Since 2010, the deputy has been a member of the Standing Committee on Communal Property, Economic, Investment Policy and Entrepreneurship, and therefore has information about communal property in Odesa and participates in decision-making on their privatisation.
Thus, during the lifestyle monitoring, it was found that the deputy, through a non-profit public organisation protecting the disabled, appropriated non-residential premises in Odesa.
The NGO received funds to pay for the non-residential premises from the MP's trustee in the form of an interest-free loan.
At the same time, the declarant's daughter acquired expensive real and personal property, as well as corporate rights in the absence of official income.
It was also established that the MP and his family members did not have the financial capacity to acquire the above assets at the expense of legitimate income.
NACP drew up a substantiated conclusion and sent the materials on the MP to the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office to be attached to the criminal proceedings and to conduct a pre-trial investigation to bring him to criminal liability. The MP currently resides in his estate in the Kingdom of Spain.
Warning. In accordance with Article 62(1) of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person shall be presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilty.
