The Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv has extended the measure of restraint for Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov in the form of personal recognizance for two more months, his lawyer, Oleksandr Lysak, has said.
“The court has extended (Trukhanov’s) personal obligations for two months,” the lawyer told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday, April 12.
According to him, the issue concerns the ban on traveling abroad. At the same time, Trukhanov has the right to move freely around Ukraine.
As reported, on February 14, 2018, Trukhanov and his deputy, Pavlo Vuhelman, were detained at Boryspil International Airport. Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky said that in 2015-2016, the State Property Fund of Ukraine sold the whole property complex of the Krayan Plant at open bidding for Hr 11.5 million. After a while, Odesa City Council bought half of the complex’s premises for Hr 185 million.
According to Kholodnytsky, criminal proceedings were opened on November 2, 2016 over the seizure of local budget funds through abuse of office due to the acquisition and transfer to municipal property of the premises of the former Krayan Plant. As a result of the investigation, notices of suspicion were approved for several officials of Odesa City Council, the managers and founders of some enterprises under Part 5, Article 191 (seizure of funds through abuse of office), Part 2, Article 205 (fictitious entrepreneurship), and Part 3, Article 209 (legalization of proceeds from crime) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On February 16, the Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv rejected a petition from anti-corruption bodies regarding the arrest of Trukhanov with an alternative to post Hr 50 million bail and released him against the guarantees of Bloc of Petro Poroshenko MP Dmytro Holubov.
On February 27, the Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv refused to grant the request for Trukhanov’s suspension from office pending the pretrial investigation.
