Kyiv dpty mayor, City Council members suspected of taking over land in capital for development bypassing tenders
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) report a large-scale operation to eradicate corruption in the land and budgetary spheres of Kyiv and expose a criminal organization engaged in taking over capital land for development and taking full control of the procedure for local authorities to make decisions on granting rights to land.
"Among the suspects: a former deputy of Kyiv City Council, the head of a criminal organization; deputy chairman of Kyiv City State Administration; chairman and member of the Kyiv City Council standing commission on architecture, urban development and land relations, current deputies of Kyiv City Council; first deputy and deputy director of public utilities; four other persons," NABU said on its website on Thursday.
It also reported that seven members of the criminal organization were detained, but it does not specify who exactly. The names of the suspects are also not indicated, but it is noted that the head of the criminal organization is a "media-famous" person.
In particular, he had "significant influence" on the processes in Kyiv City State Administration and Kyiv City Council, including the appointment of loyal persons to high positions and the dismissal of controlled employees, the allocation of budget funds in the interests of the criminal organization, and the like.
"The members of the criminal organization found promising land plots and registered ownership rights to structures that never existed on these plots in the name of the individuals they controlled. They then submitted applications to the city council to grant them ownership rights to land plots to service these structures, which allowed them to avoid bidding," NABU said in the statement.
According to NABU, Kyiv City Council deputies and Kyiv City State Administration officials, some of whom were part of the criminal organization and some of whom were under its influence, ensured that decisions were made to grant the relevant rights to land, for which they received illegal benefits in the form of funds and real estate. "The adoption of such decisions was under the complete control of the members of the criminal organization: the right people received rights to land, while the rest faced artificial obstacles and had to turn to the members of the criminal organization for help," the department said.
In order to conceal their activities, the members of the criminal organization used special mobile terminals, pseudonyms, counter-surveillance and other actions aimed at avoiding responsibility, however, this did not stop the detectives.
"The decision-making center, in particular in the land sector, moved from 3b Khreschatyk to another building, where issues were resolved with the participation of top city officials and other influential persons," NABU said.
According to the department, as a result of the activities of the criminal organization during 2023-2024, land in the city center worth UAH 11.6 million was illegally withdrawn from the property of the territorial community of Kyiv, which caused damage in this amount. At the same time, thanks to the timely actions of law enforcement agencies, it was possible to prevent the seizure of six more land plots in the capital worth UAH 83.7 million. "In addition, an attempt was exposed through threats and artificial obstacles to force a private enterprise to stop its legal activities in trading and leasing retail space in one of the districts of the capital in order to seize the land plot of this enterprise for further development," NABU said.
The investigation is ongoing, other episodes of criminal activity are being established.