Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau or NABU searched the home and office of Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov on Oct. 23, the Ukrainian graft-fighting agency said.
The NABU is investigating Trukhanov for abuse of power and embezzlement of Hr 100 million through the privatization of Odesa International Airport in 2011, the agency said. The privatization deal was later declared illegal and canceled in 2015.
Trukhanov, 52, was elected mayor of Odesa in 2014 in early elections, and re-elected in 2015. From 2010 to 2014 he was a member of parliament for the disgraced and disbanded Party of Regions, formerly led by ousted Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.
The press department of Odesa city council said that they couldn’t comment on the topic as they hadn’t managed to contact Trukhanov. According to Trukhanov’s Facebook page, he is currently on a working trip to Paris.
Trukhanov told Ukrainian television channel Pryamyi that he was cooperating with detectives “to figure out the situation.” He denied any wrongdoing.
The NABU said that it was investigating offshore companies linked to Trukhanov that were involved in embezzling money from the city budget by overcharging for the cost of roads repairs.
According to reports by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and a June report by Ukrainian investigative program Slidtsvo.info, Trukhanov owns a network of undeclared offshore companies.
Some of the companies linked to Trukhanov own construction firms in Odesa. One specific construction company called Rost, which is co-owned by Trukhanov and member of the mayor’s party, Yuriy Shumakher, has won most of the major contracts from the city government since Trukhanov became mayor.
The investigation also said that Trukhanov registered the offshore companies as a Russian citizen.
Later ex-Odesa Mayor Eduard Gurvits, ex-lawmaker Yegor Firsov, and Slidtsvo.info published documents that also prove Trukhanov has Russian citizenship. Having dual citizenship is banned by Ukrainian law.
Trukhanov has been accused of spearheading corruption in Odesa and of being a member of a mafia gang together with Odesa businessmen Alexander Angert and Volodymyr Galanternik in the 1990s, according to an Italian police dossier.
Trukhanov denies the accusations.
