Corruption in Ministry for Development: deputy PM suspected

NABU and SAPO have served a notice of suspicion to a current deputy prime minister of Ukraine, who previously held the post of Minister for Communities and Territories Development. He is charged with abuse of office and receiving undue benefits in substantial amounts for himself and third parties. He becomes the sixth suspect in a large-scale corruption scheme in the construction sector involving top state officials.

According to the investigation, a Kyiv-based property developer devised a scheme to unlawfully acquire a land plot in the capital for a residential project. To implement the plan, the developer turned to the then-head of the Ministry for Development, who — together with the Ministry's state secretary, an advisor to the minister, and the director of a state enterprise — created conditions for transferring the land to that state enterprise. The enterprise then unlawfully signed investment contracts with a pre-selected construction company.

Under those contracts, the developer was obliged to give the state a share of the future apartments proportionate to the value of the land. To minimize this share, the land and buildings on it were undervalued by nearly five times, with the discrepancy between this appraisal and the market value exceeding UAH 1 billion. This is the amount of real estate the state would have lost if the contracts had been fulfilled. However, the deal was halted thanks to a court-ordered seizure of the land initiated by NABU and SAPO.

As a “reward” for successfully setting up the scheme, the developer provided the minister and individuals designated by him with substantial discounts on apartments in completed residential complexes. With these discounts, the price per square meter ranged from UAH 1,000 to UAH 8,000, while the minimum market price was around UAH 30,000 per square meter. This resulted in an undue benefit for the minister worth over UAH 14.5 million in total.

At the request of NABU and SAPO, most of the unlawfully obtained apartments have also been seized.

The former minister’s actions fall under Part 2 Article 15, Part 2 Article 28, Part 2 Article 364, and Part 4 Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. 

The other participants in the scheme were served with suspicion notices earlier this month. The court has already imposed pre-trial restraints on them: three were remanded in custody with bail alternatives ranging from UAH 20 million to UAH 100 million, while two were released on bail.