Former Mykolaiv Airport Head Mykhaylo Halaiko, who had been arrested for allegedly trying to bribe the Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Olexiy Savchenko, was released on bail.
The detained director was bailed after paying a Hr 2.5 million ($88.800) fee and was allowed to be released from custody on Jan. 3, according to Prestypnosti.NET, a news agency.
Halaiko was arrested on Dec. 28 while he was reportedly offering a Hr 2.5 million bribe to Savchenko in the governor’s office in the city of Mykolaiv. According to the oblast’s State Prosecutor Taras Dunas, Halaiko, who had been working as the Mykolaiv Airport director since February 2017, attempted to bribe the state official in order to renew his contract.
Right before his arrest, he was ready to bring in as much as Hr 700,000 ($24,800) immediately as a down payment, the prosecutor said on Dec. 29. The governor refused to take the bribe and the airport director was detained at the scene.
The Kyiv Post could not reach Halaiko for a comment.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko’s Facebook post on Dec.28, Halaiko received the money as a kickback from the Head of the Avtomahistral construction company. Lutsenko said that Halaiko signed a contract worth Hr 64 million ($2.2 million) with Avtomahistral for constructing a new runway for Mykolaiv airport.
Halaiko turned out as the 9,424th corrupt official detained by law enforcing agencies in 2017, Lutsenko added.
During a court session on Dec. 30, the prosecutor’s office requested to increase the bail fee to Hr 10 million. Dunas reported at a press briefing on Dec. 29 that Halaiko would be charged with offering an unlawful inducement to an official.
He said that the sum of cash offered by the airport head had been seized, and its origin is to be investigated.
If found guilty, Halaiko would face four to eight years in prison, in addition to possible confiscation of property.
