Odesa Court Sentences Utility Worker for $10,000 Bribery Scheme

The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa found the former head of a section of the Miskzelentrest utility company guilty of taking a bribe.

As stated in the court's verdict, the utility company demanded a bribe from a subordinate for not dismissing him from his position as a landscaping foreman in the Shevchenko Central Park of Culture.

The bribe-taker demanded 10 thousand hryvnias from the victim, and pleaded guilty in court. However, he noted that his subordinate was not working as he should and he wanted to fire him. Instead, he offered him money for not writing a letter of resignation. Since he needed the money for landscaping, he agreed to the offer and received 10 thousand hryvnias. The convict spent the money on a microwave and a washing machine at the utility company.

As a result, the utility worker was sentenced to a fine of 34 thousand hryvnias and banned from holding senior positions in government agencies for two years.

Earlier, police detained a former employee of a state-owned enterprise in Odesa region who is suspected of systematically extorting bribes from businessmen for the use of non-residential premises.

The offender was detained while receiving a part of the agreed amount. The police searched the suspect's residences and workplaces and seized material evidence, including money and documentation on the premises that were illegally used.

The court imposed on the suspect a custodial measure of restraint with the right to be released on bail in the amount of one million hryvnias. The full range of persons involved in the corruption scheme is being identified.

Meanwhile, at the end of that year, Judge Ilya Lonsky of the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa was temporarily suspended from his duties.