Odesa businessman Boris Kaufman was released from the pretrial detention center on bail. He was arrested in the case of establishing control over the Odesa City Council and its budget.
This is reported by Interfax.
Kaufman was released on bail in the amount of 129 million hryvnias.
According to the investigation, the criminal organization, headed by Boris Kaufman and his partner Oleksandr Borukhovich (Hranovskyi), accumulated an average of 12 million hryvnias a month. The investigation established that from the fall of 2021, the participants of the scheme controlled the issues of construction in Odesa and the arrangement of funds from the local budget and the activities of communal enterprises. In fact, the "organization" kept under control all the significant budgetary expenses of Odesa and agreed on the main issues of the agenda of the sessions of the Odesa City Council. In order for the scheme to work, its participants bribed officials and deputies of the local council, who ensured that the necessary decisions were made.
Boris Kaufman is a Ukrainian millionaire, businessman, former deputy of the Odesa City Council, owner of the Vertex United group and majority owner of the tobacco giant Tedis-Ukraine. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau detained him on December 5.