Police lieutenant colonel took dollar bribes from business in Mykolaiv

The Central District Court of Mykolaiv has found former police lieutenant colonel Serhiy Zavtura, who held the position of senior operative in the Department for Combating Crimes in the Financial Sphere of the State Security Service of Ukraine, guilty of bribery.

This is evidenced by the relevant verdict.

The court found that the law enforcement officer systematically abused his official position by extorting money from local entrepreneurs for a guarantee of "peace of mind" during inspections. It should be noted that the case had been pending since 2013. According to the case file, Zavtura extorted undue advantage from two entrepreneurs. In particular, in February 2013, he came to the co-founder of the Kuzmin and Kuzmin Eurocom pawnshop and demanded $200 per month, threatening to conduct constant inspections with the seizure of documents and computers in case of refusal.

On March 14, he received the first part of the bribe, which was recorded as part of covert investigative actions. Another episode concerned the owner of the transportation company KSS-TRANS, where the ex-colonel first demanded $5000 from a businesswoman, and after bargaining the amount was reduced to $3000 to close the inspection. On March 27, 2013, the woman handed over the first $1500 to Zavtura through the cashier of the exchange office, which was also documented by law enforcement.

The man himself pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had received the money from the pawnshop for the gold scrap he had handed in, and in the case of the transportation company, he allegedly acted within the framework of criminal proceedings where the woman had offered him money. However, the court considered his explanations as an attempt to avoid responsibility, as the video and audio recordings, as well as the testimony of witnesses, including the cashier of the exchange office, were decisive. As a result, the court found it proven that Serhiy Zavtura received an undue benefit and acted intentionally, abusing his powers as a police lieutenant colonel.

As a result, the court sentenced him to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property, a 3-year ban on holding any position in law enforcement, and stripped him of his lieutenant colonel rank. Nevertheless, the court released him from serving the main sentence due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for bringing him to criminal liability, ordering him to pay only UAH 391.20 in court costs. Thus, the former law enforcement officer avoided prison, although he was found guilty of a serious crime.

Катерина Глушко