Law enforcement officers from the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) eliminated the activities of a group of extortionists led by the mayor of one of the cities of Odesa — they were trying to take over a recreation center.
The press services of the National Police, SBU and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO) write about this.
The identity of the mayor is not revealed there, but the photo published by PGO shows that the coat of arms of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi hangs in the detaineeʼs office. Its mayor is Vitaly Hrazhdan.
The investigation established that the mayor and his accomplices tricked the owner of a recreation facility on the sea coast into transferring the complex into the ownership of a company controlled by them. After that, the woman received 50% of the corporate rights to the object, and the other 50% — a person controlled by the mayor.
Later, the woman was removed from managing the base, she stopped receiving income, and the new co-owner began looking for buyers for the complex. When one was found, members of the group met with the woman, threatened her and warned her that if she refused to hand over the remaining corporate rights to the object, she would be doused with acid.
In order to successfully implement the scheme, according to the police, the mayor selected a familiar lawyer, controlled registrars and notaries. They were asked to re-design the recreation center for potential buyers.
The mayor, as the leader of a criminal group, was caught red-handed — when he was taking a $30 000 deposit from the buyers of the camping site. He was declared the suspicion under Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 4 of Art. 189 of the Criminal Code. Currently, the mayor is being elected as a precautionary measure.