The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC) has approved a plea bargain agreement for Oleksiy Takhtay, the former State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The decision was finalized during a preparatory hearing. The text of the official verdict has been restricted from public access, and the exact sentence handed down to the former top official remains undisclosed.
The ruling was reported by Sudovyi Reporter (Judicial Reporter), citing information from the Unified State Register of Court Decisions and the «Judicial Power» web portal.
According to court records, the former high-ranking official faced multiple severe charges under the Criminal Code of Ukraine. These include embezzlement and misappropriation of property on an especially large scale (Part 5, Art. 191), accepting an unlawful benefit (Part 4, Art. 368), and money laundering (Part 1, Art. 209). The victim in the case, the State Institution «Service Center for Units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine,» explicitly granted consent to the plea agreement.
Previously, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported that Takhtay was implicated in fraudulent procurement schemes involving security equipment for the ministry.
According to investigators, between 2018 and 2019, a contractor supplying video surveillance and access control systems to the Ministry of Internal Affairs artificially inflated equipment costs. In exchange for the lucrative state contracts, the businessman gifted the State Secretary four luxury vehicles valued at over 6 million UAH. The procurement scheme caused 16 million UAH in damages to the state budget, while the premium fleet remained in Takhtay’s possession post-resignation through sham donation agreements.
Oleksiy Takhtay is a well-known figure within the ministry’s upper echelons, having previously served as deputy to the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov. As early as 2014, his name surfaced in a high-profile corruption scandal involving the «Chebotar tapes»—hidden surveillance footage captured by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) inside the office of Deputy Minister Serhiy Chebotar.
Beyond the infamous discussions regarding the rigged procurement of tactical backpacks involving the minister’s son, Oleksandr Avakov, the tapes exposed other illicit operations. Specifically, Takhtay and Chebotar were caught negotiating the liquidation of seized state-owned sand through a shell company to resell it at market rates.
Notably, Takhtay avoided NABU indictments at the time. In July 2018, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) closed the controversial «backpack case,» citing expert findings that the leaked YouTube footage showed signs of video editing. However, in the parallel sand-selling scheme, Vasyl Petrivskyi—the head of the ministry’s «Spetsservis» state enterprise who reported directly to Chebotar—entered a plea deal in 2017, receiving a 4-year suspended sentence and a nominal fine.