The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has arrested Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov on suspicion of embezzlement. Trukhanov is currently being held in a pretrial detention center, with a bail of 13 million hryvnias (over $352,000) having been set for his release.
According to state investigators, in 2016, the Odesa City Council bought the building of the bankrupt machine-building plant “Kraian” at an inflated price. The price difference of more than 92 million hryvnias (close to $2.5m) was then allegedly attempted to have been withdrawn through a shell company by Trukhanov and his accomplices: deputy Pavel Vugelman, the head of the Odesa City Council’s Permanent Commission on Municipal Property Vasily Shkryabay, Odesa City Council’s Municipal Property Department Director Alexei Spektor, as well as his deputy Vladimir Radionov,.
A different preventive measure was in effect against Trukhanov until his arrest on May 4. In 2018, Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district court released him on a personal guarantee from Verkhovna Rada MP Dmitry Holubov. The court explained the need for Trukhanov’s arrest and detention by his potential escape from Ukraine, as the politician was recorded leaving Ukraine six times during the imposition of martial law – since February 2022.