14 June 2021, Monday, 13:39 175

Anti-Corruption Court Justifies Ex-MP Solvar Accused Of Unlawful Receipt Of UAH 361,000 In Compensation For Renting Housing In Kyiv

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The High Anti-Corruption Court has justified former member of the Ukrainian Parliament of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Ruslan Solvar accused of unlawful receipt of UAH 361,000 in compensation for housing rent in Kyiv.

Ukrainian News agency learned this from Anti-Corruption Court’s spokesperson Olesia Chemeris.

"Today, the court made such a decision," she said.

Solvar was accused of unreasonable receiving from the state budget through abuse of power more than UAH 361,000 in compensation for the cost of renting a room at the Kyiv Hotel.

According to the investigation, in November 2014, the ex-MP received a room at the Kyiv Hotel at the expense of the state budget due to the fact that he did not have his own home in the capital.

However, as established by the investigation, at the beginning of March 2017 he inherited an apartment in Kyiv, but did not report this fact to the Administrative Department of the Verkhovna Rada administration, therefore he continued to receive compensation from the state budget.

Only in October 2018, after a series of publications in the media, he refused to receive funds.

During these 1.5 years, as established by the investigation, the MP unreasonably received more than UAH 361,000 in compensation for renting housing.

The actions of the ex-MP were qualified under Section 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position) of the Penal Code of Ukraine.

However, the court saw no signs that Solvar had used power to do this and issued an acquittal.

In turn, the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (SACPO) informed Ukrainian News that it would appeal against the acquittal.

"SACPO prosecutors will appeal against the acquittal issued by the High Anti-Corruption Court on June 14, 2021 to the MP of the VIII convocation, who was accused of illegal obtaining compensation for the cost of renting a room at the Kyiv hotel in connection with the alleged lack of his own housing in the capital (Section 2 of Article 364 of the Penal Code of Ukraine). The SACPO does not agree with the court's decision on recognizing the ex-MP not guilty of committing the above crime and, after receiving the full text of the court's decision, will submit an appeal to the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court," the SACPO said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in December 2019, the National Anticorruption Bureau (NACB) informed ex-MP Solvar on suspicion of illegal receiving UAH 361,000 in compensation for renting housing in Kyiv.

In May 2021, the High Anti-Corruption Court acquitted ex-MP Levus (People's Front), accused of illegal obtaining compensation for housing.