Court resumes consideration of the case of the ex-liquidator of Odesa CHP

The High Anti-Corruption Court has resumed hearings in the criminal proceedings on charges of embezzlement of UAH 28 million by Yevhen Lakhnenko, the former liquidator of Odesa CHP.

This was reported by Slovo i Dilo with reference to the HACC decision.

The proceedings were suspended in January 2023 because from January 26, 2023, he was on a business trip to the Liman operational and tactical group, which fought in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine against the Russian occupiers.

The area where Yevhen Lakhnenko was located is in the combat zone, in close proximity to the contact line, so the use of technical means to participate in court hearings via video conferencing could not disguise the positions of the Joint Forces Group.

However, he was injured and is currently undergoing treatment, which means he can participate in the hearings. Therefore, the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested to resume the hearing.

In November 2019, the Suvorovskyi District Court of Odesa sent a criminal case to the High Anti-Corruption Court on charges of embezzlement against Yevhen Lakhnenko, the former liquidator of the Odesa Heat and Power Plant.

In February 2019, prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office sent an indictment against the former insolvency officer of Odesa Heat and Power Plant PJSC to the court.

In November 2018, the prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced the completion of the pre-trial investigation and the opening of criminal proceedings against the former liquidator of Odesa CHP PJSC. In October of the same year, the court seized his land plot.

The investigation established that in the spring of 2016, the insolvency receiver of Odesa CHP PJSC (99.989% of the authorized capital of which is owned by the state), in violation of the law, entered into an agreement with a commercial company for the supply of natural gas, which did not have the technical ability to fulfill this supply.

Despite the obvious impossibility of fulfilling such an agreement, the insolvency officer transferred funds to the commercial entity, but the gas was never delivered to the state-owned enterprise. Such actions of the official caused damage to the state in the amount of more than UAH 28 million.

Кирило Бойко