The High Anti-Corruption Court made a ruling on June 12 concerning seven individuals who pleaded guilty in a case related to the seizure of the Odessa international airport.

This was reported by the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

The defendants were former officials of the Odessa City Council, who systematically received bribes and facilitated the adoption of necessary decisions. They are accused of seizing the airport in 2011, valued at over 118 million UAH.

Among the accused are former Odessa mayor Oleksiy Kostusyev, businessmen Borys Kaufman and Alex Borukhovich.

The defendants are required to fully compensate damages to the Odessa City Council, including paying 150 million UAH to the council's account and returning 2,488 units of property.

The court imposed sentences ranging from 7 to 8 years in prison, along with fines totaling over 400 million UAH.

It is noted that some convicted individuals were released from punishment with the establishment of a probationary period.

For the first time, the maximum fine of 204 million UAH was applied, while other defendants received fines of over 30 million UAH each.

The court also confiscated over 6 million UAH, more than $582,000, and 6,000 euros, as well as several high-value real estate properties.

Additionally, the convicted transferred 20 million UAH to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Under the terms of the agreement, the defendants committed to pay the state and the territorial community of Odessa more than 1 billion UAH. This is the largest plea agreement in the history of such agreements in Ukraine.

Reminder:

In 2011, the Odessa International Airport LLC was established, in which the city owned 25%. The other participant with a 75% stake was Odessa Airport Development, associated with businessmen Kaufman and Borukhovich. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has been investigating this scheme since 2016.