Odesa region: police officer makes deal with prosecutor in bribery case

The Chornomorsk City Court of Odesa Region approved a plea agreement between the prosecutor and a police investigator accused of taking a bribe.

As stated in the court' s verdict, the police officer, who was already a former police officer, was sentenced to five years in prison with a one-year disqualification to work in law enforcement, but with the prosecutor's consent, the actual term was replaced by a probationary period of three years.

According to the case file, in July 2025, a traffic accident occurred in Chornomorsk: a moped collided with a car and a passenger on the moped was injured. The convict went to the scene, drew up a report and launched a pre-trial investigation. Prosecutors took part in the investigation, and the group's senior officer decided to earn extra money by taking a bribe from the car driver. To do this, he engaged a police investigator. They demanded USD 800 from the driver for expediting investigative and procedural actions in the criminal proceedings.

They also demanded a bribe of USD 7,000 to avoid being found guilty of the accident and to return the car to him. The driver was supposed to give the money to a lawyer, who, according to the court, was unaware of the scheme.

All of this continued until October 2025 - on October 8, after receiving $7,000, law enforcement officers detained the policeman. And in January 2026, the policeman decided to enter into a plea agreement. He pledged to give truthful incriminating testimony regarding the criminal offenses he and others were charged with.

Earlier, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine sent an indictment against three suspects in the case of setting up a bribery scheme to the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi court of Odesa region.

Кирило Бойко