Former Odesa city councillor extradited from Romania on suspicion of misappropriating municipal property

Return of suspect from abroad

Oleksandr Matveev, a former member of the Odesa City Council from the political force "Trust the Business", has been extradited from Romania to Ukraine. This occurred within the framework of a criminal case concerning the illegal seizure of municipal property.

According to the investigation, between 2011 and 2019, Matveev acted as the organiser of a criminal group. This structure used forged documents to illegally appropriate real estate in central Odesa. The objects that became the subject of the criminal proceedings include premises, attics, apartments, basements, and a land plot.

Details of the criminal scheme

The investigation's version is based on the fact that when Matveev was a member of the city council's committee on municipal property, he developed a mechanism for the illegal seizure of real estate. To implement this plan, he involved a lawyer and other trusted persons.

The accomplices selected premises on the first and second floors of buildings. Initially, they were rented through public organisations, and later purchased on non-competitive terms. Some of these objects were converted into residential space, their size was artificially increased at the expense of attics and basements, after which the real estate was sold.

In addition, Matveev had previously come under the attention of the SBU in connection with a scheme to seize real estate in the city centre. According to case materials, the deputy's penthouse in the Graf residential complex in Odesa's Otrada district was legalised using dubious registration schemes.

Investigation progress and preventive measure

Matveev was hiding from the investigation, and in 2024 he was declared a wanted person. In early September, he was detained on the territory of Romania.

During the hearing, the court selected a preventive measure for Matveev in the form of detention. At the same time, an alternative in the form of bail, the amount of which was set at 600,000 hryvnia, is provided. The prosecution notes that it plans to appeal this court decision and will insist on increasing the bail amount to 11 million hryvnia.

Political context

In mid-August, Matveev was among the deputies that the "Trust the Business" party decided to recall in order to replace them with other representatives.