Former police officer acquitted of corruption in Odesa after 10 years

The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa acquitted a former employee of the Odesa City Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Odesa Region.

This is reported by the Court Reporter publication with reference to the verdict of December 30.

The accused worked as a senior operative in the sector for combating illegal arms and explosives trafficking at the city police department. He was accused of abuse of power, accompanied by the threat of violence, abuse of office, incitement to bribery and fraudulent misappropriation of funds, as well as car theft. In 2013, the law enforcement officer was fired from his job.

The police officer's father was a jeweler and had problems repaying his bank loan. A lawyer he knew agreed to help and took $5,000 and jewelry for the same amount. But he did not resolve the loan issue and did not return the money. Instead, the lawyer filed a criminal complaint alleging that the jeweler and his law enforcement officer son had extorted money from him and threatened him in February 2013 to write a receipt for $7,000 and pledge his wife's car.

The law enforcement officer did not admit his guilt in all cases and said that he was the target of a provocation. He denied that he and his father had extorted money from the victim. He said that the victim had written a receipt and brought the car, but he had slandered him and his father so that he would not return the money. The law enforcement officer's father was also a defendant, but in 2023 the case against him was closed due to his death. As a result, the court found the charges unproven.

It was established that the victim had indeed received a significant amount of money in US dollars and jewelry from the defendant's father for resolving the issue of deferring and terminating his loan obligations to the bank. But he did not solve the problem and did not return the money.

The victim did not deny this, but said that he could not return the money because he had given it to another man who was later hit by a car. This version of the victim was refuted by the testimony of a defense witness, who said that the man offered him and others to write receipts with false information about receiving money, including from the defendant's father, for a reward.

Therefore, the court questioned the victim's testimony. And in this situation, the defense's arguments that the victim filed a statement with law enforcement agencies in order not to return the money are noteworthy.

Кирило Бойко