Law enforcers raid office of Mukachevo mayor, district council chief in graft case

This was reported to Ukrinform citing a source in the SBU security service, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"This morning, the mayor of Mukachevo, Andriy Baloha, chief of the Mukachevo District Council, Mykhailo Lanio, and a number of companies have faced searches due to a corruption scheme for the sale of municipal land around the Avangard stadium," the source told the agency.

He clarified that it is "about a sweet piece of land in the center of Mukachevo on the banks of the Latorytsia."

In the summer, the Mukachevo City Council put three hectares of municipal land up for auction. According to a classic corruption scheme, the land plot was massively underpriced and the company that actually belongs to the head of the Mukachevo District Council, Mykhailo Lanio, who is better known in the mob world as "Bliuk", "won" the auction, the source said.

According to him, the price of the land was 10 times below the market one. The municipal budget thus fell short of nearly UAH 100,000, the source told the agency.

Mayor Andriy Baloga issued a comment regarding the raid, claiming all decisions and procedures regarding the sale of the Avangard arena stadium were in line with current legislation.

He announced this on his Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"A few words about the investigative actions in the city of Mukachevo. First of all, the criminal proceedings, in the framework of which investigative actions are taking place, relate to the purchase of a plot of land owned by Universal-M LLC, which they have been renting from the city since 2003. Secondly, all decisions and procedures regarding this land plot were carried out this year in accordance with the current legislation," he said.

According to Baloha, all the necessary information and documents were provided to the law enforcement in full in cooperation with the investigation, at all stages of their work.

"I hope that the investigators will approach the clarification of all the circumstances of the case as objectively and impartially as possible, in accordance with the legislation, before which everyone is unequivocally equal. I am convinced of the legality of the actions of the city council and that this will be confirmed in the future within the framework of this investigation and trial, as it happened more than once," he added.