The former deputy chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional Council became a new People's Deputy

Mykhailo Sokolov. Photo from the archive of «NykVesty» in 2019

On Wednesday, December 20, the former First Deputy Chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, Mykolaiv Sokolov, was sworn in as a People's Deputy of Ukraine.

This was reported by People's Deputy Iryna Gerashchenko.

It should be noted that the Central Election Commission registered Mykhailo Sokolov yesterday, December 19. Mykhailo Sokolov was included in the electoral list of the party VO «Batkivshchyna» under number 26.

Mykhailo Sokolov entered the parliament in place of Vitalii Danilov, who in November submitted his mandate ahead of schedule.

According to the «Chesno» movement, Sokolov was a People's Deputy of the 6th convocation from «Batkivshchyna» (2007–2012). He unsuccessfully ran for the People's Deputies of the VII, VIII and IX convocations from the same party. He was a deputy of the Dnipro City Council (2002–2007), as well as the Mykolaiv Regional Council ( 2015–2019 ).

In 2008, Sokolov appeared in a journalistic investigation regarding the raider seizure of Channel 34 in Dnipro. Local mass media also claimed that the businessman, being a deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk City Council, could have been involved in the falsification of the decision to transfer the territory of the city's central square to lease for commercial development.

We will remind that in 2016, Mykhailo Sokolov was also involved in a corruption scandal regarding demanding a bribe of 90,000 hryvnias from the director of a company for a permit to extract limestone in the Mykolaiv region. Mykhailo Sokolov attended the case as a witness. As a result, after several years of consideration, the court did not find the composition of the crime in the case and acquitted all the accused and closed the case.

Since 2016, Mykhailo Sokolov, according to Bihus.Info, owns a 25% stake in the Polish company Air Cyber Services. The deputy initially denied this, and after he was asked why the company was in his declaration, he assured that he owns only 1% and that it was «gifted» to him. At the same time, it is indicated in the Polish registers that Sokolov owns a quarter of the company, and in the Ukrainian declaration he is listed as its beneficiary.