By KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has arrested businessman Borys Kaufman, suspected of creating a criminal organization that controlled officials of Odesa City Council, with an alternative of posting a bail of UAH 129 million, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) reports.
"On December 7, 2022, the investigating judge of HACC, at the request of the NABU detectives, agreed by the SAPO prosecutor, chose a preventive measure in the form of detention with an alternative of posting UAH 129 million of bail to a businessman who is a co-organizer of a criminal organization that controlled officials of Odesa City Council, the city’s budget expenditures, the activities of local utilities and other corruption crimes," the SAPO said on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.
According to the prosecutor’s office, in case of bail, the suspect will be charged with the following duties: to arrive at every request to a detective, prosecutor or court, not to leave Kyiv and Odesa without the permission of a detective, prosecutor or court, to hand over a passport (passports) for traveling abroad in the appropriate territorial division of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, wear an electronic control device (bracelet).
The SAPO reminds that since the autumn of 2021, the participants of the criminal organization have controlled the issues of development in Odesa, the disposal of local budget funds, as well as the activities of municipal enterprises and their interaction with the private sector of the market. In fact, the criminal organization controlled all significant budget expenditures of Odesa and coordinated the main issues on the agenda of the sessions of Odesa City Council. In order to carry out criminal actions, the persons established a process of systematic bribery of officials and deputies of the local council, who ensured the adoption of the necessary decisions by the local self-government body.
The SAPO report does not specify the name of the arrested suspect, as a law enforcement source told Interfax-Ukraine, it is about businessman Borys Kaufman. The second person involved in the case is ex–MP Oleksandr Hranovsky.
