On November 14, 2024, the HACC found MP Andrii Odarchenko guilty of trying to bribe Mustafa Nayyem, former head of the State Agency for Restoration, with bitcoins. Judge Viktor Nohachevskyi sentenced Odarchenko to 8 years of imprisonment.
According to the indictment, Andrii Odarchenko, former member of the committee on anti-corruption policy, in August 2023, offered Mustafa Nayyem a bribe in bitcoins equivalent to USD 50,000 in order to receive money from the Remediation Fund to repair the buildings in the university headed by Odarchenko. This is the first time anti-corruption authorities have recorded a bribe in cryptocurrency.
The defense argued that but for the provocation on the part of Nayyem, the crime would not have happened. Earlier, during interrogation in court, Odarchenko admitted that he had indeed offered a bribe, but Nayyem allegedly had forced him to do so, convincing Odarchenko that otherwise, the money would not be allocated. According to the defense counsel, Nayyem has been working confidentially with law enforcement agencies since 2023.
The defense requested that Odarchenko be acquitted due to the fact that there was no proper and admissible evidence of the presence of a crime in his actions.
However, the prosecutor noted that Odarchenko reported the provocation only after he left Ukraine. In her opinion, the recorded conversations between him and Nayyem do not contain signs of provocation, and Odarchenko offered a bribe to Nayyem several times. The prosecution asked the court to sentence Odarchenko to 10 years of imprisonment, with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions and the confiscation of all property.
Odarchenko had left Ukraine even before the court debates began. He was put on the wanted list, but the MP joined the hearing online and stated that he had left the territory of Ukraine due to “danger to his life and health.”
Less than a year passed between the time the suspicion notice was served and the sentencing. Odarchenko was served with the suspicion notice on November 21, 2023. The SAPO referred the case to court on April 16, 2024; one of the reasons for such a quick hearing of the case is that this case was considered by a single judge.
The court's verdict can still be appealed in the appellate instance.