Mayor of Odesa region, who was engaged in racketeering, was detained - SSU. PHOTOS
The SSU, jointly with the National Police, neutralized a criminal group that terrorized residents of the Odesa region. The gang was led by the head of the city council of one of the region's port cities.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the SSU press center.
Owning a holiday centre
According to the investigation, the defendants attempted to illegally seize a local recreation center located on the Black Sea coast.
"To do this, the group members forced the owner of the recreational facility to give up 50% of her corporate rights to it.
After that, they appointed their 'own' director to the recreation center, who began looking for buyers for the complex," the statement said.
When the buyers were found, the members of the criminal group were going to "squeeze" the remaining 50% of the corporate rights from the owner.
How did the scheme work?
According to the case file, the mayor engaged a lawyer he knew, as well as registrars and notaries under his control, to carry out the fraud.
It was they who had to re-register the "squeezed" campsite for potential buyers.
Law enforcement officers detained the head of the criminal group, the mayor, red-handed when he was receiving a USD 30,000 deposit from the buyers of a tourist center.
Based on the obtained evidence, the detained official was served a notice of suspicion under Part 4 Art. 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (organization of extortion of property rights with the threat of violence against the victim, committed by a group of persons under martial law). The issue of a type of detention is being decided.
The investigation is ongoing to bring all members of the criminal group to justice. The offenders face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The operation was conducted by the SSU Office in the Odesa region jointly with the National Police investigators under the procedural supervision of the Odesa Region Prosecutor's Office.
According to Dumskaia, the mayor of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, Vitalii Hrazhdan, was detained.
