On October 29, Maksym Mykytas presented his position in the closing arguments. He is accused of attempting to bribe Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov to secure a metro construction contract for his companies without a tender. The proposed bribe is estimated at a record EUR 22 million.

Mykytas said he had acted purely as a developer. He also stressed that the recorded conversations with Filatov contain no evidence of him offering a bribe. He argued that the materials from covert investigative actions captured only a meeting and conversations with Filatov on working matters related to the metro construction.

Mykytas further claimed that Filatov gave false testimony to investigators and the court, while the mayor’s associates said the exact opposite.

Regarding the November 2022 meeting, Mykytas said Filatov himself chose the venue, the Amsterdam business center, although they had previously met only on official premises. While Filatov testified that he picked the business center for protection from massive missile strikes, Mykytas is convinced the aim was to artificially create the picture of Filatov as a whistleblower and Mykytas as a bribe-giver.

As for the alleged bribe of 10% of the project value, Mykytas said there was no contract from which such a share could have been carved out. He argued that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development would never have let any “dirty” financial transactions through, so giving a bribe would have been simply impossible.

In closing, Mykytas said he had simply believed the mayor wanted to build a metro for Dnipro, and asked the court to acquit him.