Case description
On May 21, 2015, the HACC acquitted former MP Andrii Levus. He was accused of illegally receiving more than half a million hryvnias in compensation for renting an apartment in Kyiv, although he allegedly had a place to live.
Andrii Levus is a former MP of the VIII convocation and former deputy to former SSU head Nalyvaichenko. According to the investigation, from December 2014 to 2017, he illegally received UAH 544,000 in compensation from the budget for accommodation at the Kyiv Hotel. MPs who do not have housing in Kyiv or a 30-kilometer zone near the city are accommodated there. At the same time, prosecutors noted that his wife owned two apartments in Kyiv.
The court classified the case under Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HACC acquitted Levus. This was explained as follows: at the time, the law did not have precise rules that defined who was entitled to compensation. Allegedly, at the time the rules meant MPs without Kyiv registration, and Levus did not have it. Moreover, the judges did not agree that Levus' actions constituted abuse of office.
It is important to note that the former MP compensated the alleged damage in full at the stage of pre-trial investigation.
The SAPO did not agree with this court decision, so it filed an appeal. The HACC Appeals Chamber has suspended Levus's case for the time being, as he was mobilized to the Armed Forces.
