Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov was arrested on embezzlement charges

The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine arrested and sent the mayor of Odesa, Gennady Trukhanov, to pre-trial detention center. A criminal case has been opened against Trukhanov for embezzlement of more than 90 million hryvnias (about 2.5 million dollars) from budget funds. During the trial, Trukhanov was released on bail, but did not post it. The court changed the measure of restraint to custody.

As “Interfax-Ukraine” reports, in 2016 the Odessa City Council purchased a building that previously belonged to the bankrupt Krayan plant for 185 million hryvnias from a private structure, which, in turn, paid for it at an auction organized by a liquidator in early 2016 state enterprises, 11.5 million hryvnias. The seller firm, which received 185 million from the city hall, tried to list companies with signs of fictitiousness connected to the leadership of Odessa.

• Gennady Trukhanov has been the head of Odessa since 2014. During this time, Trukhanov’s name appeared in several corruption scandals. In 2018, he was detained at Kyiv airport. The anti-corruption bureau suspected him and several of his subordinates of spending budget funds. In July 2019, the court fully acquitted Trukhanov, but in 2021 the acquittal was overturned and the case was sent for a new trial.