Judges during the preparatory hearing of a criminal proceeding with accused former head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction Oleksandr Yefremov, former MP of the Party of Regions faction Oleksandr Stoyan and former MPs from the Communist Party Serhiy Hordiyenko have decided that the case is not in competence of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC).

"The panel of judges concluded that the criminal proceedings did not belong to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the High Anti-Corruption Court," the HACC judge said, reading out the decision on Tuesday.

In this regard, a petition will be submitted to the HACC Appeal Chamber for a decision on sending the case to another court. At the same time, by decision of the appellate court, the case may be returned to the HACC.

This decision was made due to the fact that on September 22, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine entered into force, which delimited jurisdiction over criminal proceedings for corruption offenses between local courts and the HACC.

On Tuesday morning, a preparatory meeting began in the case Yefremov, Stoyan and Hordiyenko. During the hearing, the defending lawyers said that this case is not in competence of HACC. In turn, prosecutors expressed confidence that the case can and should be heard in the HACC.

After hearing the arguments of the parties, the court announced the groundlessness of the arguments of the prosecutors and announced the decision.

The defending lawyers following the results of the preparatory hearing were satisfied by the court decision.

The former MPs are suspected under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or office), and Part 2 of Article 366 (forgery by an official) of Criminal Code of Ukraine.