Anti-Corruption Investigation Orders Restrictions of Rights for Mayor of Odesa

Gennadiy Trukhanov, who has been Mayor of Odesa since 2014, is accused, with others, of the embezzlement of over $2 million from the municipal budget, according to estimates given by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO); known as the Krayan case.

The HACC ordered Trukhanov to pay bail worth over $ 800 000 on April 25, as a preventive measure while investigations into the embezzlement case continue.

In addition to payment of bail, Trukhanov must abide by the following restrictions imposed by the HACC:

·      Attend court sessions considering Krayan case;

·      Not to leave Ukraine without HACC’s permission;

·      Inform the court about changes in his employment and place of residence;

·      Submit his foreign passport for storage to the State Migration Service of Ukraine;

·      Wear an electronic bracelet “tag” to control his whereabouts

Trukhanov accused SAPO of “political hunting” and said he had not intended to hide from law enforcement bodies, as the Anti-Corruption Action Center had reported.

Gennadiy Trukhanov, who is 58, served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the pro-Russian Party of Regions in 2012-2014 before becoming head of the Odesa mayor’s office in 2014.

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Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was once rumored to have permitted corruption during road construction, but parliament being asked to dismiss him came as a surprise for many.

In 2017, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine accused him of organizing a city council vote, in September 2016,  to buy the old Krayan factory building for $ 7 million when it had been bought by private firm for only $ 152 000 at the beginning of the year as was reported by the Kyiv Post at the time.

He was detained in 2018, then acquitted of the charges the following year. Kyiv Post ranked the Krayan case as being among the five biggest corruption scandals in Ukraine in that year.

In February 2021, the HACC’s appeal chamber overturned the acquittal and the case has been languishing in the courts ever since.

In 2021, Trukhanov faced new charges of allocating land for construction at inflated prices involving alleged kickbacks and money laundering from 2016 to 2019, worth a total of nearly $25 million.