Former Odesa Mayor wanted for illegal sale of Odesa Airport – Ukrainian anti-corruption agency
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The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has put former Odesa Mayor Oleksiy Kostusyev on the wanted list, according to an announcement made by the agency on Oct. 11.
He is suspected of involvement in the seizure of the Odesa International Airport.
Kostusyev is suspected of committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 191 (Misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office), Part 2 of Article 366 (forgery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The investigation found that in 2011, two prominent Odesa businessmen devised a scheme to make the Odesa Airport jointly owned by the city government and private investors.
The entrepreneurs registered an LLC to establish a joint venture with the Odesa City Council with 75% and 25% shares, respectively. According to the NABU, the consent of the members of the Odesa City Council to establish it was secured by the then-mayor.
Through this scheme, the city completely lost control of the airport and did not receive any profit from its activities. Participants in the scheme seized the property of Odesa airport worth about UAH 118 million ($3.2 million) and the income from its operations in 2012-2022 in the amount of more than UAH 2.5 billion ($68.6 million).
Former Mayor Kostusyev and his deputy, businessmen Boris Kaufman and Alex Borukhovich (formerly Oleksandr Hranovskyi), as well as the then director of Odesa Airport Development LLC, were all charged.
The court imposed on Kaufman a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with an alternative of UAH 268.4 million ($7.4 million) bail.
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