High Anti-Corruption Court Rejects Indictment Return for Odesa's Oleh Muratov in ₴9.2M Bribery Case

The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has refused to return the indictment to prosecutors for the former deputy head of the Odesa regional military administration, Oleh Muratov.

As stated in the court' s ruling, the lawyer insisted that the indictment did not comply with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

However, the court disagreed with the defense lawyers.

In February, the HACCU Appeals Chamber refused to close the case of Oleh Muratov, former deputy head of the Odesa Regional Military District Administration, and Andriy Notevsky, head of the procurement monitoring department. They are accused of abuse in the procurement of food worth UAH 9.2 million.

Muratov also came to the attention of law enforcement for corruption. He was detained while handing over part of a $35,000 bribe to his driver in the Odesa Regional Military Administration building. During the searches, more than 45 thousand dollars, 21 thousand euros, gold bars and valuable coins were found on his person.

He was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code, including fraud on a large scale and attempted bribery of an official.

Earlier, the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal denied Muratov the right to sit on a panel of judges.

Also, the former deputy head of the Odesa Regional Administrative Court, who was dismissed on suspicion of corruption , appealed to the Court of Appeal against the decision of the District Administrative Court, which refused to reinstate him in his position.

In early January, the then head of the Odesa Regional Military District Administration, Maksym Marchenko, dismissed his deputy, Oleh Muratov, who was suspected of taking a bribe.

On the evening of January 9, the Primorskyi Court of Odesa granted the prosecutor's request and suspended Oleh Muratov, the deputy head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, from his duties.

On the morning of January 9, it became known that Oleh Muratov was released from the pre-trial detention center on bail of UAH 3 million 220,800.

Кирило Бойко