New instances of corruption have been uncovered in the case involving officials of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council
The Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office has uncovered an additional episode in the case involving a corruption scheme in which top city council officials were implicated. The Prosecutor General had previously reported on this.
In May, law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, documented three instances of extortion and the receipt of illicit benefits totaling 26,000 U.S. dollars. According to the investigation, the funds were demanded in exchange for facilitating the issuance of construction permits for businesses.
Now, another incident has been identified—$8,000 in exchange for urban planning conditions and restrictions on the renovation of a building on Kobylianska Street.
On June 24, three individuals were placed under suspicion: the city’s chief architect, the director of a specialized municipal enterprise, and a representative of a private company.
According to the investigation, the director of the municipal enterprise told the intermediary the amount of 6,000 U.S. dollars. The intermediary increased it to 8,000 to keep the difference for himself. After that, the chief architect sent the approved electronic documentation, and the funds were transferred to the director of the municipal enterprise.
The representative of the private company has been detained. He is charged with providing an unlawful benefit to a public official (Part 3 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The director of the municipal enterprise has been notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the chief architect has been notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The chief architect was also served with a motion for pretrial detention, with the option to post bail of 3 million hryvnias.
The pretrial investigation is ongoing.
In accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
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