The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has extended the arrest to former deputy minister for temporarily occupied territories Yuriy Hrymchak until February 14, 2020, the court's press service said on Facebook.

"Today, on December 24, the investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court granted the request of the NABU detective to extend the duration of the preventive measure in the form of detention to the former deputy minister for temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine," it said.

The period of his detention was extended for 53 days (until February 14, 2020 inclusively) with an alternative to a bail in the amount of UAH 1.9 million.

As reported, the HACC reduced the bail amount by three times to Hrymchak, leaving the measure of restraint in the form of detention unchanged.

As reported, on the evening of August 14, the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the SBU State Security Service, under the procedural leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), detained Hrymchak and his accomplice for extorting bribes in the amount of $1.1 million. They were caught red-handed while getting $480,000 of the total amount.

According to the SBU and NABU, Hrymchak is suspected of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 190 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (fraud committed on an especially large scale or by an organized group).

On August 16, Chernihiv's Desniansky district court chose a preventive measure for Hrymchak in the form of detention with UAH 6 million bail as an option.