Case description
The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has found Chernivtsi businessman Yurii Kushnir guilty of giving a bribe to Ivan Muntian, the head of the Chernivtsi Regional Council.
The bribe, amounting to $180,000, was given to facilitate the transfer of the property complex of the Brusnytsia sanatorium on lease to an enterprise controlled by Kushnir.
According to the investigation, the former head of the Chernivtsi Regional Council, Ivan Muntian, who is a regional council member and was elected as its head, asked a local entrepreneur, Kushnir, for a $400,000 bribe.
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The money, according to the investigation, was intended to facilitate the lease of the Balneological Sanatorium Brusnytsia. The scheme was to secure the voting and decision-making by the Chernivtsi Regional Council to transfer the sanatorium for a long-term lease to a business entity controlled by Yurii Kushnir and to finalize the corresponding contract with him.
During a meeting, the head of the regional council specified the terms. He demanded $200,000 plus an additional 20% of future investments in the sanatorium, which he estimated at $1 million. This amounted to an additional $200,000.
Yurii Kushnir agreed to provide the illicit benefit, on the condition of further clarification of its amount and form. In the end, Kushnir handed over $180,000 to Muntian, which, at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) exchange rate as of October 15, 2019, was equal to UAH 4 million. This sum was to ensure the necessary vote in the regional council and the subsequent signing of a lease agreement with the company controlled by the entrepreneur. The investigation found that the money was transferred in tranches.
The HACC approved a plea bargain with Kushnir, who was found guilty under Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Kushnir was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment with a fine of UAH 83.26 million and a 2-year and 8-month ban on engaging in export-import activities. At the same time, the court exempted him from serving his sentence with a probationary period of 3 years.
Additionally, Kushnir is obligated to transfer UAH 10 million within a year to the Come Back Alive charitable foundation to support the army aviation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. An additional UAH 5 million from the bail posted for him will be transferred to the needs of the Armed Forces.
Previously, the HACC had already approved an agreement with Kushnir in a case concerning abuses at the Chernivtsi customs office.
