Court releases ex-deputy director of Odesa port

In Odesa, a court has closed the case against the former deputy director of the Odesa port, who was accused of negligence. The official allowed a private company to use state warehouses for free.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Prymorskyi District Court.

In Odesa, the trial of the former first deputy director of the state enterprise Odesa Commercial Sea Port has been completed. He was accused of negligence, which caused significant damage to the company and the state budget.

According to the investigation, in March 2019, the official entered into an agreement with the Sanmobile company, which actually allowed him to use almost 7,000 square meters of warehouse space for free. These are the so-called "Red Warehouses" on Mytna Square. Formally, the document concerned the provision of cargo storage services, but in fact it was about renting huge areas for symbolic money.

In these warehouses, the company stored hundreds of non-customs-cleared cars arriving through the port of Odesa. In other words, the company was using state property for its own business, paying almost nothing for it. The investigation showed that if a standard lease agreement had been concluded, the port would have received more than a million hryvnias, and the state budget would have received more than 2.4 million. Instead, the company received only about 130 thousand hryvnias for the entire duration of the agreement. The losses to the state exceeded UAH 3.2 million.

Despite this, the former official pleaded not guilty. He explained that he did not see any violations in his actions and, together with his lawyer, asked the court to close the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The prosecutor did not object.

The court ruled to release the defendant from criminal liability and closed the proceedings. At the same time, more than 12 thousand hryvnias spent on expert examinations were charged to the state.

In early September, the Bureau of Economic Security brought to court a case of embezzlement of public funds during the repair of a berth in the Chornomorsk port. The accused are an official of the USPA and the management of a construction company who forged certificates of completion.

In August, Oleksandr Oliynyk, the head of Pivdennyi port, was notified of suspicion of negligence and abuse of power in the procurement of equipment for unloading containers. NABU detectives also served two of his deputies with a notice of suspicion of misappropriation of state property through abuse of office.

Анна Бальчінос