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Chernihiv's Desniansky district court has ruled to take Ihor Ovdienko, the assistant of Deputy Minister for Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Yuriy Hrymchak, into custody for two months, setting bail at UAH 4 million ($158,102).

The Ukrainian prosecutor's office in its petition requested to take him into custody with an alternative of a UAH 12.5 million (US$493,681) bail, 112 Ukraine TV channel reported.

The court hearing lasted about five hours.

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It is noted Ovdienko himself denies his guilt. He said he was a lawyer and called receiving a bribe "a fee for his work."

Read alsoCourt rules to arrest Deputy Minister Hrymchak, sets US$237,154 bail

As UNIAN reported earlier, Hrymchak and his assistant were detained on Wednesday, August 14, on bribery charges.

The two officials allegedly demanded US$1.1 million from a representative of a legal entity for "exercising influence on decision-making by persons authorized to perform state functions." Hrymchak and his assistant were caught red-handed amid receiving part of the sum in the amount of US$480,000, the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said.

On August 15, Hrymchak and his assistant were notified of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 190 "Fraud Committed on an Especially Large Scale or by an Organized Group" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. "The individuals by deception took possession of other people's property – money in a particularly large amount," the NABU added.

The crime under the said article is punishable by imprisonment for a term from five to 12 years with confiscation of property.