Former MP Dubovoy may receive 12 years in the Trukhanov case involving the "Krayan" factory

In the deal involving the purchase of the "Krayan" factory building by the Odesa City Council, through which 92 million hryvnias (more than 3.5 million dollars at the then exchange rate) were effectively misappropriated from the city budget at the end of 2016, the main figure is considered to be the mayor of Odesa, Trukhanov.

However, everyone somehow forgets that, according to the investigation, the organizer of the scheme is not Trukhanov, but a two-term MP from "Batkivshchyna", and believed to be an associate of former National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov, Oleksandr Dubovoy.

Former MP Dubovoy may receive 12 years in the Trukhanov case involving Krajan

Let’s recall the essence of the case. In October 2016, the Odesa City Council voted to purchase the building of the then-bankrupt Krayan factory into municipal ownership for 185 million hryvnias. Some structural subdivisions of the city council were supposed to move there. The acquisition of the premises was lobbied by Trukhanov.

During the investigation, it was found that in February 2016, a Latvian company "UAB NASTER" purchased the entire property complex of the Krajan factory at auction for 11.5 million hryvnias. Later, two non-residential premises from this complex were bought by the British company "Welton Group" for 4 million hryvnias.

In August of the same year, a new company "Development Elite" was established, and within 10 days, "Welton Group" entered it, contributing these two factory buildings to the "Development Elite" charter capital for 4 million hryvnias. And it was from "Development Elite" that the city council bought the building for nearly 50 times the price – 185 million hryvnias.

The founder and director of "Development Elite" was a certain Petro Zahodirenko, known to have been an observer in the 2010 elections from a little-known party.

According to some media, the valuation of the factory premises for the city council was conducted by the company "PP Brokbizneskonst", whose director Halyna Bohdanova was once sentenced to a year probation for official negligence.

The funds received from the city authorities were attempted to be transferred by the selling company to a fictitious company, whose head at the beginning of 2018 was located in the uncontrolled territory of Donbas. At that time, NABU and SAPO promptly managed to secure the arrest of the accounts of the company’s seller.

In fact, it was in February 2018 that when investigators began handing out the first suspicions, then MP Serhiy Leshchenko openly stated Dubovoy’s involvement in this financial fraud. From his own sources, he learned that the funds appropriated from the factory purchase were intended not for Trukhanov but for Turichnov and Dubovoy.

Initially, Dubovoy was a witness in the case. At least once, in April 2019, he appeared at a court hearing in this case when the first process against Trukhanov was underway. At that time, by the way, Turchynov was still the NSDC Secretary.

Dubovoy refused to answer most questions from prosecutors. He could afford it, which is not surprising. According to many media, Dubovoy and Turchynov are long-time business partners and attend the same Protestant church. This, of course, is not a crime, but Dubovoy was specifically named as a representative of Turchynov’s interests in the Odesa region and a person responsible for certain financial issues.

After the 2019 presidential election, the situation changed. Although on July 9th, Malynovskyi District Court acquitted Trukhanov. However, as appeals continued, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced suspicions to four more participants in this scheme. Among them, the main one is Oleksandr Dubovoy, in that the law enforcement authorities explicitly named him as the initiator and organizer of this criminal scheme for seizing the budget funds of Odesa citizens.

More than 250 documents directly related to the economic activities of the "Krayan" factory were seized from one of the Kyiv offices linked to Dubovoy.

The suspicion of law enforcement officials is direct evidence that Dubovoy was behind the creation of shell companies that bought and sold factory buildings at inflated prices, through which proceeds obtained by such illegal means were to be legalized.

Dubovyi is accused of embezzlement, misappropriation of property, or taking possession of it through abuse of office on a particularly large scale, and the legalization of property obtained by criminal means, committed by an organized group or on a particularly large scale.

For this, Dubovoy faces up to 12 years in prison.

On February 11, 2021, the Appeal Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court canceled the acquittal of Trukhanov, and at the beginning of April of the same year, Dubovoy’s case was sent to court.

A preparatory hearing was even scheduled.

However, judging by everything, the case review is stalling. Specifically, in October 2022, HACC by its decision refused to consolidate the cases of Dubovoy and Trukhanov’s ex-assistant, who is also a figure in the criminal proceedings for the embezzlement of 92 million hryvnias of budget funds.

Kostyantyn Kulikov

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