NABU requests Interpol to issue "red notice" for MP Odarchenko

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has submitted materials to Interpol to announce a search for Andrii Odarchenko, a Member of Parliament from the Servant of the People party, who was sentenced to eight years in prison by the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).

This was confirmed in a comment to Ukrinform by NABU Director Semen Kryvonos.

"We have submitted materials to the National Central Bureau of Interpol to issue a 'red notice.' In turn, the NCB of Interpol forwarded our materials to the General Secretariat of Interpol. As of yesterday, the 'red notice' had not yet been issued," he said.

As reported earlier, on November 14, HACC sentenced Andrii Odarchenko, an MP from the Servant of the People party, to eight years of imprisonment. He was accused of attempting to bribe the then-head of the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, Mustafa Nayyem, with bitcoin in exchange for facilitating a decision to allocate money from the Fund for Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression for repairing university buildings, where Odarchenko served as rector (the contract for this position has been suspended).

The proposed bribe amount was to be 8% of the total funding.

HACC began hearing Odarchenko's case on July 25 of this year.

On September 19, HACC declared Odarchenko internationally wanted after he failed to appear at a court hearing on September 18 without providing reasons for his absence.

It was later revealed that Odarchenko is in Romania, where he has requested asylum.