On October 9, special-service agents were trying to detain the Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning Oleh Harkota, property developer Volodymyr Balahura, and the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda faction in the City Council Roman Onufriev, right in the center of Ivano-Frankivsk city. However, Mr. Onufriev and Mr. Balahura were released under the pressure from the crowd. Officers of the law charge them with privity to taking a bribe in amount of 30 thousand dollars. Politicians advanced a claim on political reprisal connected to the elections.
We remind, that Oleh Harkota, a supporter of the Svoboda party was put in chair of the Head of the Architecture Department by the majority of this party in the City Council. Since he has been detained, Mr. Harkot is staying under police supervision in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast hospital. Even his wife is not allowed to meet him. An accusation against Roman Onufriev, which is an agent of the candidate for MP of Ukraine from the United opposition in district #83, the leader of oblast branch of All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, hasn't been laid yet.
On 17 October, a video on which a man somehow resembling the well-known in Ivano-Frankivsk developer Kolkovskyi Volodymyr, the deputy of the City Council from the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, is receiving 10 thousand dollars, has appeared on Youtube. There is a visible date on the video: 30 May this year. According to the investigation of journalists, the account is Russian, registered on 17 October.
Law enforcement deny political implication of the detention of the politician connected to the Svoboda party. The special operation began in the May this year, and Oleh Harkot - the Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council - was detained as a result. According to the Kommersant-Ukraina edition, which has a source in law enforcement bodies, the total amount of the bribe was supposed to be $100,000.
It is also mentioned, that a special operation, which resulted in detention of Mr. Harkot, has begun in May this year, when Law enforcement bodies registered a first transfer of funds in amount of $10,000 from a Chief executive officer of a local building company to a deputy of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council Mr. Kolkovskyi. It seems that this very transfer is on the Youtube video.
The total amount of the bribe was supposed to be $100,000. This is estimated price for adjustment of technical documentation, adoption of positive decision on a session of the City Council, which, probably, was supposed to be secured by Onufriev Roman, as well as issuing certificates necessary to construct a high-rise building by the company.
$30,000 which were found during the detention were supposed to be paid for receiving a cadastral certificate from the official. Moreover, according to the source, it's impossible to prove that these money is not a bribe, because banknotes were marked and their serial numbers were copied before the special operation.