Journalists predicted which MPs might be the next to run away from the law

BIHUS Info journalists have analyzed the latest high-profile escapes of MPs involved in corruption and other criminal scandals from law enforcement agencies abroad, including through Odesa region, and have compiled their own list of those who may be next.

The list consists of five names.

In their opinion, the next candidates for escape may be:

• MP Serhiy Labaziuk (suspected of attempting to bribe top officials in the field of recovery);
• Former head of the Dnipropetrovs'k Regional State Administration Valentyn Reznichenko (suspected of misappropriation of funds for road construction);
• Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (suspected of illicit enrichment of over UAH 55 million);
• The family of Lviv businessman Roman Hrynkevych (accused of large-scale embezzlement of money for the needs of the military);
• Vsevolod Knyazev, former head of the Supreme Court (suspected of taking a bribe of almost $3 million).

"They fall under the collective image of a potential fugitive abroad. So, a decent position, a crime, suspicion, bail, released from custody," says investigator Svitlana Stetsenko.

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Earlier, SBI officers served notice of suspicion to three people who smuggled MP Artem Dmytruk, a suspect in attacks on citizens, across the state border to Transnistria. The State Bureau of Investigation found that on August 23, 2024, Dmytruk crossed the border in the direction of the Republic of Moldova near the Pavlivka checkpoint in the area of responsibility of the Velyka Komarivka Border Guard Service Department of the Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Earlier, on August 25, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that MP Artem Dmytruk had been served with a notice of suspicion. According to the investigation, the suspect attacked a law enforcement officer while in Odesa and tried to steal his weapon. The suspect also attacked a soldier in Kyiv, inflicting moderate bodily harm on the soldier. On the same day, it became known that the MP had traveled abroad. The State Bureau of Investigation reported that a criminal case had been opened over the fact of illegal border crossing by the current MP.

On August 27, Moldova said that Dmytruk had failed to disclose that he was a member of the Ukrainian parliament when he crossed the border with Moldova. Speaker of the Rada Stefanchuk said that based on the results of the investigation, the parliament would decide whether to revoke Dmytruk's mandate. On August 29, it became known that the MP was put on the international wanted list. On the same day, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv imposed a preventive measure on Dmytruk in absentia in the form of detention. However, the MP's lawyer stated that Dmytruk had left legally.

Кирило Бойко