The High Anti-Corruption Court has granted a motion filed by the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to put Kyiv city council member Vladyslav Trubitsyn on the international wanted list.
Trubitsyn is accused of receiving UAH 1.39 million in undue advantage. The decision to approve the petition was made on 5 June, the press service of the National Anticorruption Bureau reported.
"The court took into account the systematic absence of the accused from court hearings and the availability of confirmed information about the border crossing by the said person and granted the motion in full," the statement said. The motion to forfeit the bail in the amount of UAH 9.886 million to the state and to impose a custodial measure of restraint on the accused will be considered at the next hearing on 12 June.
Trubitsyn is suspected of having organised, together with other defendants in the case, a scheme to receive bribes for winning tenders for the installation of retail outlets in different districts of Kyiv. He was notified of the suspicion in early February 2022, but Trubitsyn continued to be a councillor and even headed the commission on entrepreneurship, industry and urban development. He was granted bail as a measure of restraint.
On 17 May, the deputy did not appear at the court hearing, and his phone was out of reach. The next day, he missed a session of the Kyiv city council. Back on 12 May, Trubitsyn claimed on Facebook that he was in Kyiv at work at the Kyiv City council.
On 25 May, more than a year after the announcement of the suspicion, the Servant of the People faction expelled Trubitsyn from its ranks. After a journalist's inquiry on 30 May, the SAPO confirmed that Trubitsyn had travelled abroad without the permission of the prosecutor's office.
Skhemy journalists found out that Trubitsyn was able to go abroad thanks to a letter from the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov. He wrote to the head of the State Border Guard Service asking them not to prevent Trubitsyn and four other people from leaving Ukraine between 28 January and 25 May 2023. The MP left on 13 May.
Later, the Main Intelligence Directorate explained that the Special Operations Service of Ukraine had asked the department for permission to leave the country. The SSO said that this year, in January, they asked Budanov to facilitate the departure of Trubitsyn and four other people as volunteers to provide the Special Operations Forces with "special equipment".