In Odesa, a scheme to illegally take over the International Airport was exposed. Suspicion was served on the former mayor of the city

The National Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAP) have notified five persons involved in the illegal takeover of the Odesa International Airport.

Among the suspects are the former Odesa mayor, his deputy, the head of one of the limited liability companies and two well-known businessmen in the region. In 2011, the mayor of Odesa was Oleksiy Kostusev.

According to the investigation, they created a scheme according to which the airport was jointly owned by the city and private investors.

Therefore, the city completely lost any control over the airport and did not receive any profit from its operation. A group of suspects had been misappropriating the income from his activities for years. So that the airport could not be returned to the ownership of the city, 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, part of which, namely UAH 118 million, is the cost of the airport, and the rest is illegally appropriated profit.

The suspect was declared under Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the former mayor of Odesa is additionally incriminated under Part 2 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face imprisonment for up to 12 years. Currently, the issue of choosing preventive measures is being resolved.