The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has decided to hold a special trial against fugitive MP Andriy Odarchenko. This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Action Centre on its Telegram channel.
This ruling will allow the trial to continue without the presence of Odarchenko, who has fled abroad. HACC judge Viktor Nogachevsky granted the motion of the prosecutor of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) for a special trial.
Odarchenko’s lawyers tried to suspend the trial until the decision on his wanted list was executed, arguing that the prosecutor’s office had not taken proper measures to establish his whereabouts or notify him of court hearings. The defence also argued that the testimony of the MP himself was of great importance to the case and that its absence would be beneficial to the prosecution.
The SAPO accuses Odarchenko of attempting to bribe the former head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, Mustafa Nayem. According to the investigation, the MP offered Nayem an undue benefit in exchange for facilitating the Interagency Working Group’s decision to allocate funds from the fund for the elimination of the consequences of armed aggression to repair the buildings of the university where Odarchenko holds the position of rector (whose contract has been temporarily suspended). The proposed bribe amount was to be 8% of the funding.
The SAPO prosecutor previously reported that Odarchenko had fled abroad and was put on the national and international wanted list. It became known that he had illegally crossed the border near Krasnoilsk, Chernivtsi region, and sought asylum in Romania.
The HACC also arrested Odarchenko in absentia and confiscated his bail. Subsequently, MPs Artem Dmytruk and Andriy Odarchenko, who had left Ukraine, were expelled from the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada.
