06 October 2021, Wednesday, 18:10 121

Venediktova Serves Odesa Mayor Trukhanov And Number Of Odesa Officials With Suspicion Of Seizing Land In Odesa

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova served the mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov and a number of Odesa officials with the suspicion of seizing land in Odesa.

She wrote about this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"I inform the society that I have signed five suspicions within the framework of the investigation of criminal proceedings by NACB detectives and SACPO prosecutors. This is a very important and indicative case, both for Odesa region and for the country as a whole. Odesa has never been a simple city and it is naive to believe that cases are being investigated there, so to speak, according to a template. On the contrary, the suspects became the mayor of the city, a number of city officials and one well-known Odesa citizen, whose role was carefully studied by the investigation, so as not to make a mistake or miss anything," the Prosecutor General wrote.

Among the suspects is the former prosecutor of Odesa region.

“We are convinced that all these people (it is entirely possible that the number of suspects may increase) were involved in a number of criminal actions aimed at taking possession of land plots in Odesa. For some reason, the defendants in the case called the real seizure of land a lease, forgetting that falsification of documents and the use of official powers in order to implement a criminal plan are criminally punishable acts," Venediktova noted.

In general, according to expert opinions, the losses inflicted on the city budget amount to more than UAH 533 million.

“I would like to note that this amount may change by the time the investigation is completed and the case is brought to court, despite the existence of other important circumstances that are carefully handled by detectives and prosecutors. We have never had any doubts that such complex criminal mechanisms can run like clockwork only when someone had the audacity and, probably, the courage to build an absolutely clear hierarchical model, where everyone has their own role, their own function, competencies that are understandable to the smallest detail, and on the throne is a leader who skillfully pulls the right strings at the right time," Venediktova emphasized.

According to her, the investigation analyzed a colossal array of data obtained in the course of investigative actions: telephone conversations, data from computers, information from e-mail boxes and much more.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Court of Appeal of the High Anti-Corruption Court overturned the court's decision, which acquitted the mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov in the case of the alleged embezzlement of UAH 92.7 million of local budget funds when purchasing the building of the Krayan plant.

In 2019, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau completed an investigation into the failure to declare by the mayor of Odesa Trukhanov real estate, cars and interest in banks.