According to the investigation, the range of abuses is quite extensive – from road repair schemes to purchasing Dutch tulips at inflated prices
As reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office in July, in just the first six months of 2024, investigative bodies submitted indictments against 74 Kyiv officials to the court. During this period, 26 officials from city utility companies were also charged. The total damages identified in these criminal cases amounted to 554 million hryvnias.
The three months that have passed since then have further increased the "catch" for law enforcement. Asphalt, warning systems, cemeteries, a smartphone app, a meat processing workshop in a residential building, asphalt, and the procurement of Dutch tulips: Kashtan.NEWS reports on what the capital's officials have been caught up in over the past few months.
Meat Processing Workshop in the Basement
At the end of August, the director of the utility company "Managing Company for the Maintenance of Residential Real Estate in the Svyatoshyn District of Kyiv" and four entrepreneurs were charged with illegally seizing a basement of a residential building.
As reported by the National Police and Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, the entrepreneurs legally rented a non-residential space on the first floor but illegally occupied over 500 square meters of the adjacent basement, where they set up a meat processing workshop and storage.
3 Later, the businessmen attempted to legitimize their acquisition by "buying" the premises from a man who, according to forged documents, was allegedly their owner. As a result, property worth 3.5 million hryvnias was lost from municipal ownership.
Currently, the "businessmen" are suspected of fraudulent acquisition of part of the municipal premises by prior conspiracy of a group of individuals in especially large amounts (Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code). The director of the utility company has been charged with negligence in office that caused serious consequences (Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code). The sanctions for these articles provide for imprisonment of up to five and eight years, respectively.
Business at the Cemetery
Another official, who served as the caretaker of the Bilychansky Cemetery, took a creative approach to the concept of "dead souls." He fictitiously registered a 52-year-old cleaner with a salary exceeding 40 thousand hryvnias per month, although the woman never appeared at the cemetery. Over nearly two years, she was credited with over 1.14 million hryvnias, which regularly went into her account.
4 Later, the official transferred to the position of acting caretaker of the City Cemetery, where he executed a similar scheme: he fictitiously hired a 27-year-old woman, who received over half a million hryvnias for a year of "work."
In August 2024, the scheme was finally uncovered, and the creative caretaker was charged with negligence in office that caused serious consequences.
Air Raid Alarm at an Inflated Price
In early September, the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office reported that an indictment had been sent to court regarding Roman Tkachuk, the director of the Department of Municipal Security of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA). The official is accused of embezzling budget funds under conditions of martial law (Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation materials, in June 2022, Tkachuk signed a contract with a private firm for the modernization of the territorial automated centralized alarm system (TASCO) in the Desnyansky District. Almost 10 million hryvnias were allocated from the budget for this purpose.
5 Investigators discovered that the director of the department turned a blind eye to the inflated prices for materials and equipment set by the firm and signed the relevant acceptance acts for the completed work. According to the expert's conclusion, the city overpaid the firm by more than 370 thousand hryvnias.
Video Tutorials and Mobile Application
Also facing trial are the head of one of the municipal enterprises and the director of a company who profited from the procurement of educational video materials and a smartphone application. The total damages from both procurements amounted to nearly 5 million hryvnias.
"The defendants violated regulations during public procurement with budget funds, allowing the selection of a company linked to officials of this municipal enterprise as the winner. Part of the funds received by the winning company was returned to the KNP account, while 4.5 million hryvnias were transferred to the account of another enterprise showing signs of being fictitious for supposedly provided services to produce video materials. In fact, these services were never rendered," – said the city prosecutor's office on October 8.
Ripped Off on Asphalt
Another 800 thousand budget hryvnias disappeared during the procurement of asphalt for roads on the right bank. It turned out that the former head of the utility company "Road Maintenance and Repair Department of the Solomyansky District of Kyiv" and the chief engineer of the same enterprise purchased asphalt concrete mix at inflated prices – for a total of nearly 35 million hryvnias. The losses to the budget amounted to about 800 thousand hryvnias.
6 At the end of August, both officials were charged with embezzlement of budget funds in large amounts by prior conspiracy of a group of individuals and were subjected to preventive measures in the form of bail.
Dutch Tulips
This individual decided to profit from the capital's flower beds: in September of this year, the director of the utility company responsible for maintaining green spaces in the Pechersk district was charged with negligence in office during the procurement of Dutch tulips.
According to the investigation, in October of last year, the director signed a contract with an individual entrepreneur for the supply of tulip bulbs from the Netherlands for a total of nearly 700 thousand hryvnias. The tulips were supposed to be planted in the Pechersk district.
7 "During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that due to the official's negligence, the price for the specified tulip bulbs was inflated by over 230 thousand hryvnias. Further investigation will clarify whether the municipal workers actually planted the purchased Dutch tulips or opted for cheaper Ukrainian ones," – promised the prosecutor's office.
Bribe for a Car and Lie Detector
And finally – the loudest corruption scandal of recent months: the case of bribes in the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the KCSA. The scandal erupted back in June, following a report from the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) announcing suspicion against the deputy director of one of the KCSA Departments, who demanded bribes from Kyiv transport operators.
"In April 2024, the wife of a serviceman, who managed her husband's transport company while he was serving, approached the DBR. The company serviced one of the Kyiv routes. The woman complained about systematic pressure from the official and threats to terminate the existing passenger transport contract if she did not agree to "cooperate." Specifically, the company was supposed to weekly pay the official through a controlled firm 40 thousand hryvnias for the right to operate on the route," – the DBR reported.
8 The intermediary businessman was detained immediately after receiving the next "installment" for the official. The name of the official who was to receive the bribe was not disclosed by the DBR; however, according to "Suspilne", it was Maxim Shyrokov, the deputy director of the Department of Transport Infrastructure. At the same time, some Kyiv media reported that the deputy mayor regarding self-governance issues, Kostyantyn Usov, also received a suspicion, and searches were conducted in his office, but the KCSA denied this information.
However, searches at Usov's office did indeed take place: on October 1, the official stated that the seized funds had been returned to him.
"After 4 months of delays, the DBR finally returned my personal funds as those unrelated to the criminal proceedings," – wrote Usov on his Telegram channel, adding that he successfully passed a polygraph test.
He also reported that an "internal audit of the situation regarding subordinate units and municipal institutions" is ongoing at the KCSA, and the deputy director of the department who was charged with suspicion has left his position.
Kostyantyn MYKHAILENKO