The former mayor of Odesa was taken into custody in absentia. He is wanted for embezzlement of the International Airport

The former mayor of Odesa, Oleksiy Kostusev, was given a preventive measure in the case of the illegal takeover of the International Airport "Odesa" — detention.

This was reported by the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office.

At the request of the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which was approved by the prosecutor of the SAP, the investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure against the former mayor of Odesa Oleksiy Kostusev. He is one of the suspects in the case of illegal seizure of the property of the Odesa airport.

The court granted the petition and chose a preventive measure in the form of detention.

After the suspect is detained and brought to the place of pre-trial investigation, the investigating judge will decide on the application of this preventive measure.

• On August 29 of this year, a scheme to illegally seize the International Airport was exposed in Odesa. Five people were informed about the suspicion, namely: the former mayor of the city, his deputy, the head of one of the LLCs, and two well-known local businessmen. According to the investigation, they brought the airport into joint ownership of the city and private investors, due to which Odesa completely lost any control over the airport and did not receive any profit from its activity. To make it impossible for the airport to return to the cityʼs ownership, all its property was pledged to the bank for a loan, which was not repaid at all. This caused losses to the local budget totaling more than UAH 2.5 billion.
• On October 12, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced a wanted list for the former mayor of Odesa, Oleksiy Kostusev.