Just four days after he was arrested on suspicion of receiving a $90,000 bribe, Mykola Romanchuk, the first deputy governor of Mykolayiv Oblast, walked free from an Odesa hospital on June 7.
Romanchuk, who was awarded the title “Hero of Ukraine” by former President Viktor Yushchenko, was released by a court due for medical reasons the day before, on June 6. He was taken from the courthouse in an ambulance, allegedly suffering from high blood pressure, BBC Ukraine reported. Court proceedings were postponed indefinitely.
After one night in the cardiac intensive care unit, Romanchuk was discharged from the hospital in fine health on June 7, the hospital said. His daughter signed the papers for his discharge, she said. Without a new court hearing scheduled, Romanchuk was under no supervision and was free to leave the hospital.
Romanchuk’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. During the court hearing, Romanchuk denied taking the bribes. “I took nothing, I saw nothing, I knew nothing,” he said, according to BBC Ukraine.
Romanchuk was one of four officials arrested on June 3 by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU. Romanchuk attempted to flee arrest in a car, Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoly Matios said in a press conference aired on Channel 112.
Yuriy Tandit, an SBU official, criticized the court for not doing its job properly and undermining the work of the security service.
“I hope that we will have courts that make decisions to protect the people, rather than letting the criminals continue doing what they do,” Tandit said. “When money is extorted from entrepreneurs, and when these people are suspected by the courts, for some reason, they are also often let go by the courts. This is a problem that bothers us a lot.”
The deputy governor’s release comes as Ukraine struggles to create a working judicial system that enjoys public confidence and is not corrupt.
Romanchuk is suspected of taking a $90,000 bribe involving a mining permit, Tandit said. The operation was carried out jointly by the SBU and the General Military Prosecutor’s Office.
In a search of the suspect’s estate that took place on the same day as the arrest, the SBU discovered a suitcase containing $300,000, as well as an underground tunnel containing safes stuffed with gold bars, icons, antiques and china.
Photos of the valuables and antiques found in Romanchuk’s home were posted on SBU’s Facebook.
Matios posted photos of the money and valuables on his Facebook with a description of the arrest: “The grounds for the arrest of Deputy Governor Romanchuk was the present and lawfully obtained evidence that had been evaluated and determined by the investigator of the Military Prosecution of the Southern Region.”
In the post, Matios wrote that Romanchuk was suspected of violating Article 208 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code by illegally opening hard currency accounts. Matios’ Facebook page has since been taken down.
The court hearing would have decided whether Romanchuk would keep his title as “Hero of Ukraine,” Matios said at the press conference. As long as the trial remains indefinitely postponed, Romanchuk remains a “Hero of Ukraine.”
