The special anti-corruption prosecutorʼs office (SAP) completed the pre-trial investigation in the case of the appropriation of the international airport "Odesa". Ex-mayor of Odesa Oleksiy Kostusev and businessmen associated with him received new suspicions about it.
The SAP press service writes about it.
The businessmen were informed of the suspicion of giving Kostusev a bribe in the form of a two-story penthouse in the center of Odesa with an area of 700 square meters. m and worth about 16 million hryvnias, and to the former mayor himself for receiving this bribe.
The former Odesa mayor, his deputy, the head of one of the limited liability companies and two well-known businessmen in the region appear in the case. They are suspected of taking possession of the property complex of the strategic object — SE "Odesa International Airport" and UAH 2.5 billion of income from its activities.
The investigation established that in 2011 the group developed and implemented a criminal scheme, as a result of which the airport was transferred from the ownership of the territorial community to the joint ownership of the city and so-called private investors.
Two businessmen from Odesa registered an LLC, which was to establish a joint venture with the Odesa City Council with a 75% and 25% share distribution, respectively. Their goal is to take ownership and privatize the airport worth about 118 million hryvnias. The then mayor of Odesa convinced the deputies of the city council to agree to this. He also committed official forgery in order to give the controlled LLC the right to form a joint company with the Odesa City Council, bypassing the competition.
Because of this, the city lost control over the airport and did not receive income from it. Instead of Odesa, it was done by the participants in the case. So that the city could not regain ownership of "Odesa", all its property was pledged to the bank for a loan that was not repaid.
"The property of the airport received for joint use was not subject to privatization, as it was of national importance and ensured the performance of the functions of border and customs control," the SAP emphasized.
Here is the qualification of the actions of the suspects:
- two Odesa businessmen — co-organizers of the scheme — part 3 of Art. 27, Part 5 of Art. 191, Part 2 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 209, Part 2 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 209, Part 4 of Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
- the former mayor of Odesa — Part 5 of Art. 191, Part 1 of Art. 366, Part 4 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
- director of the LLC — Part 5 of Art. 191, Part 5 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In October 2023, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) seized the property of the international airport "Odesa".