As Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones were striking the city center of Odessa in the last twelve hours, Ukrainian prosecutors were arresting mayor Trukhanov for embezzlement and corruptions charges.
The High Anti-Corruption Court arrested and imprisoned Trukhanov on charges of leading an embezzlement scheme valued at more than 90M UAH (2M USD). Prosecutors retained Trukhanov to 60 days detention, but allowed a deposit of 19M UAH (514K USD) for release until trial. Trukhanov’s lawyer Mr. Lysak, said in a comment to Suspilno:
“The accusations are “groundlessness of the suspicion” that Trukhanov will not pay an extortion fee. They will be filing an appeal.”
Trukhanov has been a career politician, serving as an MP in the Ukrainian Parliament, Odessa city council, and now the mayor. He has been the center of several scandals including owning multiple passports from Russia and Greece. Ukraine bans dual-citizenship.
According to the Panama Papers Trukhanov owned controlling interested in several business through U.S. Virgin Islands shell companies and has embezzled millions.