Former official in Lutsk avoided punishment for bribery due to a "loophole" in the law

Former official in Lutsk avoided punishment for bribery due to a "loophole" in the law

Former deputy mayor of Lutsk, Oleksandr Rachkov, was accused of accepting a bribe of $7,000. He allegedly promised to facilitate the legalization of construction in exchange for this amount.

The court found him guilty but... released the bribe-taker from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

It turns out that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence of Rachkov’s guilt, and the court reclassified his actions as a less serious crime - influence peddling, for which the bribe-taker could have faced up to 5 years in prison.

Rachkov himself did not plead guilty and claimed that the money was payment for the work of an architect, and he was merely following the mayor’s directive to legalize unauthorized construction.