The scandal with generators received by Odessa as humanitarian aid from Germany and Italy and which strangely ended up in the hands of commercial structures belonging to friends and acquaintances of Mayor Gennady Trukhanov is gaining momentum.
As Dumskaya found out, the police opened a criminal case under the article on theft (part 4 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) on May 20.
The investigation established that the “humanitarian” generators were transferred to the balance of the Odessa Electrotechnical Operation and Installation Enterprise, which was engaged in their distribution, in particular among medical institutions. At the same time, not all of the units have reached hospitals – 29 units are still gathering dust in a warehouse, and 15 have fallen into the hands of private owners.
Gennady Trukhanov and Oleg Pleshko, December 2022
Thus, the FG WILSON P65-5 (65 kW) generator with inventory number 5444 was found near the Vinobroteria restaurant, in Tchaikovsky Lane. This establishment belongs to Olga Gritsenko, who is called a close friend of the mayor.
Another generator, Pramac РX8000 (5.4 kW) with inventory 5523, was found by law enforcement officers at the CARat car wash located on Tolbukhin Street. The media write that its owner is the godfather of Oleg Pleshko, director of the Odessa Electrotechnical Operation and Installation Enterprise.
The Pramac PX-8000 generator was found at the registered address of the former deputy director of the municipal department of urban economy, Vitaly Tsurkan.
A curious story happened with the Caterpillar DE165GC 165 kVA/50 Hz generator, which was found on Genuezskaya Street, not far from the residence of the mayor and another establishment of Olga Gritsenko. When a scandal arose and searches began, they tried to… steal this device, and, as police sources say, not some bandits, but employees of the City Roads Communist Party. The law enforcement officers prevented them, and Deputy Mayor Valery Silin himself, a former “important man” of the Prosecutor General’s Office, who oversees the security bloc and, until recently, the housing and communal services sector, arrived to rescue his people.
“They naturally laid him face down on the asphalt. Then, of course, they released me, but that was the episode,” says our interlocutor.
During the searches, the police seized the generators themselves, the keys to them, computers and mobile phones with information allowing them to track the fate of the equipment, and a bunch of paper documents.
On June 24-25, the Kyiv District Court of Odessa seized this property.
In a comment to Dumskaya, the city mayor Gennady Trukhanov called the information about the distribution of humanitarian generators to outsiders a lie.
“All these generators are in hospitals… I asked all the doctors, they said: “Gennady Leonidovich, we have everything in place, everything is up and running. And someone had to throw out a rumor that Trukhanov gave something to someone, a favorite restaurant… Well, they caught some kind of hype,” the mayor said.
The press service of the municipality clarified: yes, everything is a lie, but an internal investigation is being carried out. Moreover, for each generator that is not currently located directly on the territory of the utility company.
“All generators transferred to the city from international partners have been distributed among critical infrastructure facilities, in particular, medical institutions. This information is publicly available and is regularly published on the official resources of the Odessa City Council. To date, all medical institutions subordinate to the city, as well as boiler houses, are equipped with generators.
We consider all publications in which the Odessa City Council is accused of improper use of generators to be a deliberate discrediting of the city authorities and causing reputational damage in the international arena. We also remind you that it was dialogue, constant reporting and transparency in international relations that made it possible to provide the city of a million with critical assistance in wartime – in particular, sources of alternative food,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
At the same time, the decisions of the Kyiv District Court of the city, officially published in the Unified Register of Court Decisions, indicate that at least three generators were stolen and went not to ordinary people, but to people connected with the city and municipal enterprise management.
No one has been informed about the suspicion in this criminal case (its number is 12024160000000667) yet. Our sources in the mayor’s office claim that Trukhanov will try to blame everything on the former vice-mayor Sergei Tetyukhin, who left to serve in the Defense Forces and died as a result of a missile strike on March 15, 2024.
“They will blame the deceased, saying that the generators were distributed on his personal order. Let’s see how the police react to this. The case is still under investigation, new searches are possible. It is unlikely that the mayor will be personally brought in; most likely, the main defendants will be the director of the municipal enterprise and the deputy director of the department of municipal services,” the source told Dumskaya.
UPDATED 06/30/2024. The fact that one of the generators, transferred to Odessa as humanitarian aid, is not where it should be, was confirmed by Odessa Vice-Mayor Valeriy Silin.
At the same time, in a comment to Dumskaya, the official stated that he himself was not at the scene of the incident on Genuezskaya and the information about his detention by the police is not true.
“I was acting mayor when this movement with generators began. I gave the task to completely check where exactly our generators are located. I was told that one of them is located on Genoese. No one knows why he was there. I wrote out a protocol order, sent a specially created commission there to pick him up and bring him to Inglesi, where our utility company is located. When our team arrived there, there were strange comrades there who didn’t introduce themselves or show their IDs. When they started filming them, they blocked our car and ran away.
And then I read that they laid me face down in the asphalt, although I was not there, I was at home. We are now preparing an application to the DBR against these incomprehensible workers. Then some investigator arrived and began carrying out investigative actions.”
Silin allegedly knows nothing about the situation with other generators.
(c)DUMSKAYA.NET 2024
Trukhanov: The whole city knows, that also this time I am innocent. This time I blame the killed vice-mayor of Odesa for these crimes.
I’m really disgusted. Other countries are providing aid just to be used by corrupt politicians. This shit needs to stop. I think a couple hangings will put fear into the remaining traitors and may think twice.
I fully agree, Sir Cap. A few public executions should be carried out to show the country and the world that such disgusting behavior is not tolerated.
Trukhanov is always mixed up in any shady work in Odesa, yet he keeps squirming out of it. Someone high up is stopping the law from tossing this creep into prison for a very long time.
It seems so, as you say. It would explain him having the nerve to steal items that were donated to Ukraine.
Such shit nuggets have the biggest potential to be at fault for Ukraine not getting donations anymore. If he’s being protected, Zelensky had better find who it is and stop him/them permanently.