Former Odesa Officials Sentenced to 10 and 8 Years for $40,000 Bribe

The High Anti-Corruption Court has passed a verdict against former Odesa Regional Council deputy Ivan Boychenko and former deputy head of the Izmail Local Prosecutor's Office Ivan Marakhovsky, finding them guilty of taking a bribe of USD 40,000.

This was reported by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

According to the SAPO, the defendants received this bribe from the director of a business enterprise for not interfering with his business. In particular, the bribe was intended for the unimpeded operation of the enterprise.

The former MP was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In addition, he was banned from holding positions in state and local government (except for elected officials) for three years and his property was confiscated. The court changed his preventive measure and increased his bail to UAH 5 million.

The former deputy head of the Izmail local prosecutor's office was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The court also deprived him of the right to hold positions in the justice system (judge, lawyer, prosecutor) for three years, confiscated his property and stripped him of his class rank of counselor of justice.

The court's verdict can be appealed within 30 days to the Appeals Chamber.

The special prosecutor's office did not name the defendants, but according to Slovo i Dilo, they are Ivan Marakhovskyi, former deputy head of the Izmail local prosecutor's office in Odesa region, and Ivan Boychenko, a member of the Odesa regional council.

This case was initiated in 2017 based on NABU materials, after which the investigation established the fact of bribery.

Prior to that, the HACC judge approved a plea agreement between the SAPO prosecutor and the defendant, former head of the Tsebrykivka village council in Odesa Oblast Volodymyr Barnasevych. He was charged with abuse of power or position.

Ірина Глухова