Ukrainian Court Splits Charges Against Avtotehtsentr Director Dmytro Travinov in ₴12M Bribery Case

The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has separated into a separate proceeding the charges against Dmytro Travinov, director of Avtotehtsentr LLC, who is accused of mediation in extortion and bribery.

Thus, the court granted the prosecutor's motion, according to Slovo and Dilo.

In June 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine put Dmytro Travinov on the wanted list, suspected of abuse of influence as part of a group of people. Dmytro Travinov is the director of Avtotekhtsentr Limited Liability Company, and according to the investigation, he tried to influence Ihor Shevchenko, who was the head of the Chornomorsk Sea Trade Port at the time of the crime.

On May 1, 2024, NABU detectives in Odesa region served three people with a notice of suspicion. They were accused of taking a bribe of UAH 12 million.

Law enforcement officers found that two employees of the State Enterprise Sea Commercial Port Chornomorsk, one of whom is the head of the legal support service and the other is a former advisor to the director, in October 2020 offered the director to influence the port director in exchange for UAH 12 million to enter into an agreement on the assignment of a claim to a private enterprise.

Earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court approved a plea agreement in the same case between the prosecutor and Olena Novichkova, head of the commercial, property and lease service at the state enterprise Chornomorsk Commercial Sea Port, and Oleksandr Bulavchenko, a former freelance advisor to the port director.

Both defendants were sentenced to UAH 42,500 in fines. Also, under the terms of the agreement, they pledged to cooperate with the SAPO prosecutor and transfer UAH 1 million each to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, they will jointly pay UAH 34,322 in procedural costs.

On December 11, 2020, detectives of the National Bureau, under the procedural supervision of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, detained the head of the State Enterprise "Sea Commercial Port Chornomorsk" and an intermediary on suspicion of extortion and receiving an undue benefit of USD 250 thousand.

Кирило Бойко