Odesa Court Dismisses Corruption Case of Ex-Police Chief Kucheryavyi

The Odesa District Administrative Court dismissed the claim of the former head of the Kherson Police Personnel Department, Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Kucheryavyi. He tried to regain his position and receive compensation for the period without work, but the court found his claims unfounded.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism.

Kucheriavyi was fired in August 2024 after it turned out that he was involved in a corruption scheme to sell driver's licenses in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

The investigation found that the scheme involved officials of the State Emergency Service, former and current law enforcement officers, a driving school employee, and an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs service center. They helped to obtain driver's licenses without exams and medical examinations, and their "services" cost an average of 20 thousand hryvnias. Even local officials and their relatives were among the clients.

Investigators also found out that Kucheriavyi illegally received UAH 24 thousand in assistance for IDPs, although he returned to his home in 2023 but did not report it.

From February 2023 to July 2024, he was also responsible for the personal security of the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.

The investigation into the participants of the corruption scheme is ongoing.

Recently, two Odesa police officers were exposed for corruption. They organized a scheme to receive monthly bribes from entrepreneurs of the 7th kilometer industrial market.

As a reminder, Odesa region was ranked third in Ukraine by the number of registered corrupt officials in 2023. The anti-rating of corrupt regions was published by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. Since the beginning of the year, 217 entries have been added to the register, 208 of which were made by court decision. Administrative offenses accounted for 138, and criminal offenses for 70. There are nine disciplinary sanctions.

Lviv region took the first place in terms of corrupt officials. Since the beginning of the year, 246 corrupt officials have been registered in Lviv region. The second place is shared by Kyiv and Dnipropetrovs'k regions - 219 records each.

Андрій Колісніченко