The HACC acquitted former MP Oleksandr Dolzhenkov. He had been accused of misappropriating UAH 700,000 in compensation for renting housing in Kyiv.

Oleksandr Dolzhenkov was a Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the 7th and 8th convocations, a member of the Party of Regions faction and after 2014 joined the Opposition Bloc. 

According to the investigation, in April 2015 Dolzhenkov became co-owner of two-thirds of an apartment in Kyiv. Nevertheless, in 2017 he applied to the Administrative Department of the Verkhovna Rada requesting monthly compensation for housing rent or a hotel room for the entire period of exercising parliamentary powers. The amount of compensation was UAH 650 per day.

The investigation believes that from the moment he acquired the share in the apartment Dolzhenkov was provided with housing in Kyiv and therefore his application to the Administrative Department of the Verkhovna Rada to receive rental compensation contradicted the purpose of such guarantees for MPs. The prosecutor also emphasized that the apartment was suitable for living and did not meet any criteria of unsuitability defined by law. The investigation also claims that Dolzhenkov in fact lived in this apartment, as evidenced by mobile operator data and a letter from Novoservice LLC (Management and Housing Maintenance Company).

However, due to the public outcry caused by a journalistic investigation, in 2018 Dolzhenkov requested to stop the payments. According to journalists, Oleksandr Dolzhenkov owned a luxury apartment in Pechersk with an area of 181.3 square metres while simultaneously renting a small apartment at the expense of the state in the Kharkiv district from Tetiana Borodina. Notably, a person with the same surname was listed among Dolzhenkov’s assistants and served as an observer for the Party of Regions in the 2012 elections. The prosecution established that Dolzhenkov in fact lived in his own apartment rather than the rented one.

According to the defence, the flat was in the construction company's condition — without interior decoration, plumbing and appliances and therefore was unsuitable for living in until December 2018. From that time, according to the accused, he requested the Administrative Department of the Verkhovna Rada to stop the compensation payments. Dolzhenkov also denied actual use of the mobile number cited by the investigation, explaining that it was a corporate number belonging to his wife due to her work at a law firm.

His actions were qualified under part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. However, the HACC acquitted Dolzhenkov as the court found no confirmation that the apartment was suitable for living and agreed with the position of the defence. 

The case is currently being considered by the HACC Appeals Chamber.