Case on accusation of former Odesa prosecutor of conspiracy with mayor sent to court

The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine has sent to court an indictment against former Odesa Region Prosecutor Oleh Zhuchenko on charges of abuse of office, receiving undue benefits from a developer for an apartment in Odesa, and using a knowingly forged document.

This information was released by the SAPO press service.

Investigators allege that while serving as the Prosecutor of Odesa Region, Oleh Zhuchenko, abusing his official position, acting in prior conspiracy with the Mayor of Odesa, his deputy, the former head of the Department of Communal Property of Odesa City Council, his deputy and others, transferred two land plots in Odesa with a total area of almost 4 hectares to a private company for free, which caused losses to the public interest of the territorial community of Odesa in the amount of about UAH 130 million.

For committing these actions, the head of the regional prosecutor's office received an unlawful benefit from the developer - an apartment in a new building in Odesa worth more than UAH 3.5 million, which he registered in his wife's name.

In addition, it turned out that the official intentionally used deliberately forged documents on the assessment of land that had been illegally transferred for construction. The prosecutor's office did not order such assessments, and the value of the land plots was understated and did not correspond to market prices.

The actions of the former head of the regional prosecutor's office are qualified under Article 28(2), Article 364(2), Article 368(4) and Article 358(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

At the meeting on October 18, 2021, Oleh Zhuchenko stated that during a meeting with him, Odesa businessman Adnan Kivan offered him a bribe of USD 1 million, as well as to provide him with housing in Odesa for use through third parties. For this, Zhuchenko said, as the regional prosecutor, he was supposed to sign a suspicion against Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, but he refused the offer. In addition, Oleh Zhuchenko added, the then head of the Odesa Regional Administration, Mikheil Saakashvili, also advised him to announce such a suspicion. According to the suspect, his refusal led to further legal prosecution.

Prior to that, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova said that she had signed a number of suspicions as part of the criminal investigation by detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

The following persons are being brought to criminal responsibility in this case:

• The head of the criminal organization (the investigation believes that it is businessman Volodymyr Halternyk- ed;)
• Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov;
• Prosecutor of Odesa region(Oleh Zhuchenko has already been dismissed - ed;)
• Vasyl Shkriabai, chairman of the Standing Committee on Communal Property of the Odesa City Council;
• Head of the Land Commission of the City Council;
• Head of the Legal Department of the City Council Inna Popovska;
• Head of the Department of Municipal Property of the City Council;
• Deputy Head of the Department of Communal Property of the City Council;
• representatives of the developer company;
• members of the criminal organization - private individuals.