The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has removed from office the deputy chairman of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council, Vladyslav Kutsenko, who was caught giving more than UAH 650,000 in bribes. This was reported by the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
It is Vladyslav Kutsenko, a former prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.
The HACCU partially granted the NABU detective’s motion to remove Vladyslav Kutsenko from his position, and suspended the suspect from the post of deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council for a period of one month.
In the courtroom, Kutsenko rejected the NABU’s version of his illegal actions as part of an organised group.
“I believe that the pre-trial investigation body systematically uses the materials in which I am not involved as a means of political pressure… There is testimony against other people, there is testimony against the main witness, who was a member of the criminal mafia in Zaporizhzhia region earlier… There is no evidence that I led any organised group, there is no video, I did not give any money, no illegal money was found either during my arrest or at my home,”
– kutsenko said.
What Kutsenko is suspected of
on 19 February, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, exposed the deputy chairman of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council, his assistant and a deputy for bribing the director of a medical institution in the regional centre. Both detained deputies are members of the Batkivshchyna party faction.
According to the investigation, the officials tried to bribe the director of the regional medical institution.
According to the SBU, the deputy head of the regional healthcare authority, his assistant and a local deputy were exposed immediately after handing over the bribe to the director of the medical institution.
“In return, the head of the medical institution was to facilitate the victory of predetermined companies in medical procurement, as well as the commission of financial transactions by the said medical institution in the interests of financial institutions,”
– the statement said.
on 23 February, the High Anti-Corruption Court and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported that a preventive measure had been imposed on the three officials. Thus, the deputy head of the ZOR and his assistant were to be held in custody with the possibility of bail, and the deputy of the regional council was to be placed under house arrest;
on 27 February, the deputy chairman of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council was released on bail in excess of three million hryvnias.
The actions of the suspects were classified under Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. This carries up to 10 years in prison with possible confiscation of property.