Former head of Odesa tax office and her deputy remain convicted

Former head of Odesa regional tax office Natalia Chebotareva and her deputy Volodymyr Mosiychuk were upheld in their convictions for bribing a prosecutor. The HACC refused to order an examination of video and audio materials in the case.

This was reported by Slovo and Dilo.

The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to order an examination of the materials of covert investigative actions during the consideration of the appeal against the verdict that sentenced Natalia Chebotareva, former acting head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Odesa region, to 6 years in prison, and her deputy Volodymyr Mosiychuk to 5 years. The decision was made on September 11.

The Anti-Corruption Court found Chebotareva and Mosiychuk guilty of providing an undue benefit to the prosecutor. The defense filed a number of appeals against the verdict, and the appeal proceedings have been going on for almost two years.

The motion of Mosiychuk's defense counsel to order an examination of video and audio recordings was dismissed. The ruling comes into force from the moment of its announcement and is not subject to appeal," the decision reads.

According to the investigation, Chebotareva and Mosiychuk offered the head of the Odesa Region Prosecutor's Office, Mykhailo Serbin, to receive $25,000 in monthly bribes in exchange for not obstructing the illegal activities of tax officials and not bringing them to criminal liability.

The investigation established that in November 2019 alone, they allegedly received $250 thousand from entrepreneurs. In October of the same year, the suspects appointed their people to key positions to create the scheme. The first tranche was transferred to Serbin on December 13, as recorded by NABU detectives. After that, Chebotareva spent a month outside of Odesa under the guise of a sick leave.

Last year, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court upheld the verdict that found Svitlana Ancheieva, the former acting head of the legal department of the Ovidiopol District State Administration, guilty of abuse, but released her from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Анна Бальчінос