The court sent an ex-MP Maksym Mykytas under house arrest

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The Higher Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) sent former MP Maksym Mykytas under house arrest. He is suspected of embezzling 307 million hryvnias (as well as five other people).

The Anti-Corruption Center and the non-governmental organization "Transparency International Ukraine" write about this.

The prosecutor asked to take Mykytas into custody with an alternative bail of 134 million hryvnias. However, the court sent him under house arrest and ordered him to wear an electronic bracelet.

The case is about 307 million hryvnias

In 2018, the Ministry of Defense wanted to build protected warehouses for the storage of missiles and ammunition of the Armed Forces, and signed corresponding contracts for 3 billion hryvnias with companies controlled by then MP Maksym Mykytas. The MP planned to seize part of this money, but he was hindered by legal restrictions — the Ministry of Defense could pay only 30% of the advance from the amount of the annual volume of work. Therefore, the MP and his assistant involved the officers of the armed forces in order to adopt changes to the government regulations, which allowed to pay for construction 80% in advance.

During November-December 2018, the Ministry of Defense transferred over UAH 307 million to the accounts of the company controlled by the deputy. However, the construction of the facility was never started, and the allocated funds were transferred to the accounts of other controlled companies.

  • Former MP Mykytas is currently involved in three different corruption cases.
  • In 2019, NABU declared Mykytas the suspicion of taking possession of National Guard property. In 2020, he was declared of the suspicion of ordering the kidnapping of a lawyer in Kyiv.
  • In October last year, he was detained at the request of the mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov. He claimed that the ex-MP developer offered him €22 million for the participation of certain companies in the construction of the metro in Dnipro. According to the Anti-Corruption Center, Mykytas was released from the pre-trial detention center on July 21 and currently has to wear an electronic bracelet until November 8 inclusive.