The Kherson City Court suspended criminal proceedings against the former director of the Department of Civil Protection and Defense Work of the Kherson Regional State Administration, Pavlo Kozyriev, who is suspected of bribery.
The court made this decision on February 19.
The reason for suspending the proceedings was Kozyriev’s service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The court received the relevant certificate from the commander of the military unit where the former official is serving.
“Since the defendant is deprived of the ability to participate in court hearings, the court sees no grounds to deny the motion to suspend the proceedings in the case. For the stated reasons the motion to suspend the criminal proceedings is well-founded and therefore should be granted”, – the ruling states.
Thus the court ruled to suspend the criminal proceedings until Kozyriev is released from military service.
Pavlo Kozyriev came to the Department of Civil Protection and Defense Work from the construction business almost immediately after Oleksandr Prokudin was appointed head of the Kherson Regional State Administration.
On January 9, 2025 Kozyriev was arrested on suspicion of bribery and extortion.
The investigation established that he, together with the deputy head of KHOKARS, demanded from the director of a Kherson company 10 % of the contract amount, which the entrepreneur could obtain by participating in the tender. The money was demanded for signing the contract and for the unobstructed acceptance of the work.
The total amount of the bribe mentioned in the court ruling was UAH 199,000, which was handed over in tranches. In addition, the entrepreneur was directly threatened that in case of refusal to pay the “tithe” he would no longer be able to work in the Kherson region.
According to MOST, the entrepreneur who reported the demand for a kickback is no longer being awarded contracts by the Regional State Administration.
On January 13 last year Pavlo Kozyriev was removed from his position, and later was removed from the Regional Defense Council. In June it became known that he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine.