The NABU and the SAPO have exposed a kickback scheme in the repair and maintenance of roads in Poltava. According to the investigation, city council officials and a council member established a system for extracting unlawful benefits from contractor companies performing road works.
In exchange for the unobstructed conclusion and execution of contracts and the timely acceptance and payment of completed works, they demanded kickbacks of 10% of contract values from the contractors. To conceal the transfers, funds totaling over UAH 7.7 million were channeled through a currency exchange point.
Suspicion notices were served on:
- a Poltava City Council member and a city council official — for accepting an unlawful benefit (Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- two representatives of contractor companies — for providing an unlawful benefit (Article 369(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The councillor named in the case was subsequently identified as Yurii Brazhnyk. On June 11, the HACC remanded him in custody with a bail alternative of UAH 33 million. Brazhnyk pleads not guilty.
As the SAPO prosecutor stated at the preventive measure hearing, the other suspects in the case are Deputy Head of the Poltava Housing and Utilities Management Department Maksym Teslenko and contractor representative Volodymyr Tuzenko, both of whom have already provided incriminating testimony against the council member. According to the prosecutor, their statements fully corroborate the conversations and conditions recorded during covert investigative actions.
