Ex-MP Hranovskyi suspected of organizing corrupt scheme at Odesa Port Plant
Oleksandr Hranovskyi (Photo:Hranovskyi's press service)
Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators on Oct. 21 said they suspect former Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Hranovskyi of organizing a corrupt scheme at the Odesa Port Plant (OPP).
The investigation into the scheme was carried out by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
According to a NABU press release, under the scheme, the OPP sold mineral fertilizers to a predetermined company at discounted prices, after which this enterprise resold the products to foreign companies at the market price.
NABU agents said the scheme was in effect in March-December 2015, resulting in the OPP failing to receive about UAH 93.3 million ($2.5 million).
Four participants of the scheme were served with charge papers in March 2020, namely:
• a trusted person of the former lawmaker (Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• the OPP’s deputy director (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• the OPP’s department head (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• the owner of a company participating in the corruption scheme (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to Ukrainian media outlet Babel, the trusted person of the former lawmaker and the owner of the company participating in a corruption scheme have been declared wanted.
The whereabouts of Hranovskyi himself are unknown.
Hranovskyi entered Ukraine’s parliament as a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Party in 2014. He left the Party in 2019. In the last parliamentary elections, he lost to the Servant of the People candidate Oleksandr Kunitskyi in majority district No. 169 (Kharkiv Oblast).
In 2019, media reported that Hranovskyi had received an Israeli immigration visa and left Ukraine the next day after it was issued.
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