The main investigations bureau of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has arrested a deputy mayor of Kherson and a deputy of Kherson City Council taking a UAH 80,000 bribe, PGO head Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"The PGO's main investigations bureau has detained the Kherson deputy mayor and his accomplice – a deputy of Kherson City Council – who demanded from a local entrepreneur a 15% 'kickback' for payment of unfulfilled work. The UAH 80,000 bribe became his last," Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday. Lutsenko did not name the deputy mayor or his accomplice.

The PGO's press service said lawmen detained the acting deputy chairman of Kherson's city council and the head of the communal services department of Kherson city council as the men demanded and received an inflated payment in the amount of UAH 80,000.

The men received the money from the chairman of a construction company in return for transferring budget funds pursuant to contracts (15% of the total), a criminal offense pursuant to Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The crime is punishable by a jail term of from five to ten years and a ban from occupying certain posts or engaging in certain activities for a period up to three years with confiscation of property and special confiscation.

The pretrial investigation of the alleged crime is underway.