HACC arrested in absentia the MP from “Servant of the People” Andriy Odarchenko

The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC) collected the bail paid for the fugitive MP Odarchenko, who is suspected of trying to bribe the ex-head of the State Reconstruction Agency Mustafa Nayem, and arrested him in absentia.

This became known from the broadcast of the session of the High Anti-Corruption Court.

HACC decided to collect UAH 15 million of the deposit made for the MP Odarchenko from the budget income. The money was deposited by 18 people as early as November 2023 as a preventive measure — then Odarchenko was released from the pre-trial detention center.

The prosecutor said that in the future she will file a motion for a special trial (in Odarchenkoʼs absence) so that the case can be brought to a verdict.

She also said that Odarchenko illegally crossed the border with Romania and is asking the country to grant him asylum. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) stated that the deputy crossed the border in the Krasnoilsk settlement of the Chernivtsi region. During the meeting, it was also reported that the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada did not issue a business trip for Odarchenko to travel abroad. There are no official border crossing documents.

The prosecutor reported that on September 19, the "unofficial" driver of the peopleʼs deputy told: two days before that, the peopleʼs deputy asked to drop him off in the central part of the city, gave the driver his mobile phones and asked him to charge them. Then Odarchenko said that he would get to the Verkhovna Rada and back on his own.

What preceded

On September 18, the MP did not appear before the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) and neither the court nor the prosecutor was informed of the reasons for his non-appearance. Odarchenkoʼs lawyers also did not know where he was and emphasized that they had no contact with him. Because of this, SAP initiated the collection of the pledge assigned to the peopleʼs deputy from the state income, and declared him wanted.

Earlier, SAP assumed that Odarchenko could go abroad through the Transcarpathian region, because he allegedly had a close relationship with Viktor Mykyta, former head of the Transcarpathian region — he was recently appointed deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Odarchenkoʼs case

On November 21, 2023, the MP Andriy Odarchenko was informed of the suspicion of an attempt to bribe the then head of the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa Nayem. It is about a bribe in Bitcoin cryptocurrency equivalent to $50 000.

According to the investigation, the MP offered a bribe for the adoption by the interdepartmental working group of a decision on the allocation of funds from the fund for the elimination of the consequences of armed aggression to repair the buildings of the university in which the peopleʼs elected official holds the position of rector (the contract has already been terminated). Odarchenko is named the rector of the State Biotechnology University.

Already on November 22, HACC of Ukraine chose a precautionary measure for the MP in the form of detention with an alternative bail of 15 million hryvnias. And on November 24, Odarchenko was bailed.