The Appeal Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court overturned the acquittal of Odesa mayor Hennadii Trukhanov & Co. in the case on the purchase of the Krayan plant.
Judges Viktor Pankulych, Ihor Panaid and Serhii Bondar overturned the verdict of the Malynovskyi court of Odesa, which acquitted Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov and his accomplices in a case on alleged embezzlement of UAH 92 million for the purchase of Krayan plant buildings by Odesa City Council.
Trukhanov himself pleaded not guilty at the hearing. What is more, he is supported by Odesa City Council members.
We remind you that, according to the investigation, Trukhanov and his accomplices allegedly bought Krayan for a multiple of 17 of its initial price. Apart from Trukhanov, defendants include his deputy Pavlo Vuhelman, director of the municipal property department of Odesa City Council Oleksii Spektor, and former director of TOV Elite Development Petro Zahodirenko.
In 2016, Odesa City Council was looking for premises of 44 thousand square meters. The 7,000 square meters of Krayan plant somehow caught the officials’ eye. The NABU and the SAPO found in the documents on the technical condition of the building that internal engineering networks were absent, utilities were in the unsatisfactory condition, and the physical wear constituted 55%.
On July 9, 2019, the Malynovskyi District Court of Odesa acquitted all the accused. The court concluded that the investigation and the prosecutor’s office had failed to prove intent to seize funds and abuse power. The court found some evidence inadmissible, in particular, an examination of the value of the building, for which the City Council, according to the investigation, paid twice as much.
The case was later appealed in the High Anti-Corruption Court.
