At the beginning of October, the law enforcement officers detained the mayor of the city of Sumy Oleksandr Lysenko “red-handed” – while receiving a bribe of more than 2 million hryvnias. Investigators say that a bribe was demanded for “resolving the issue” regarding the garbage tariff and “not creating artificial obstacles” for one of the local businesses. The higher anti-corruption court chose a preventive measure for Lysenko in the form of detention with the possibility of a bail of 3 million hryvnias. Bail was posted, the mayor was released from the pre-trial detention center, but he has not yet returned to his duties – he was suspended from his position for two months.

Oleksandr Lysenko is 52 years old, 9 of which he was the head of Sumy. In 2014, Lysenko was elected mayor of the city from the Batkivshchyna party. He was elected from the same party in 2015 and in 2020. Before entering politics, Lysenko was engaged in business – car repair and route transportation. Later the mayor left the company to his fellow party member from “Batkivshchyna”. The mayor’s wife, Olena Lysenko, is also currently engaged in business.

In 2018 and 2019, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention drew up protocols against Oleksandr Lysenko for a conflict of interest: he repeatedly issued bonuses to himself. The sanction of the article, in which Lysenko is now suspected of receiving a bribe, provides from four to eight years of imprisonment.