The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine have completed the pre-trial investigation in the case of a corruption scheme in the construction sector involving top state officials, which could have caused the state more than UAH 1 billion in damages. This was reported by the SAP, as conveyed by UNN.
Details
In June of this year, NABU detectives, in agreement with SAP prosecutors, notified 6 individuals of suspicion of attempted abuse of official position, receiving and providing undue benefits on a particularly large scale, including:
- former Minister for Communities and Territories Development;
- former State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development;
- former Advisor to the Minister;
- former director of the state enterprise;
- developer and his authorized representative (organizers of the scheme).
According to the investigation, the developer and his authorized representative developed a scheme for the illegal acquisition of a land plot in Kyiv for the construction of a residential complex. Officials of the Ministry of Regional Development and the director of a state enterprise were involved in the implementation of the scheme. Ministry officials created conditions for the transfer of the land plot to the management of the specified state enterprise, the state secretary gave permission for a significant economic obligation, and the director of the state enterprise illegally concluded agreements with the "necessary" construction company, which allowed the development of the land plot, as well as the demolition of existing structures on it.
Under these agreements, the developer was supposed to give the state a part of the future apartments in an amount proportional to the value of the land plot. To reduce this amount, the land and the buildings on it were valued almost five times cheaper, and the difference between this valuation and the market value exceeded UAH 1 billion. This is the amount of real estate the state would have lost if the agreements had been fulfilled. This was prevented by the arrest of the plot, imposed at the request of NABU and SAP.
For the implementation of the scheme, the developer and his authorized representative provided the Minister and the persons designated by him, the State Secretary, and the director of the enterprise with a discount on apartments in already built residential complexes in Kyiv. With this, the cost per square meter ranged from 1 to 8 thousand hryvnias, while the minimum market value was about 30 thousand UAH per square meter. The total amount of undue benefit provided was 18.4 million hryvnias.
The actions of the Minister and the State Secretary are qualified under Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 364, Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the director of the state enterprise - under Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Minister's advisor - under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the developer and his authorized representative - under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 364, Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Recall
SAP and NABU uncovered a corruption scheme in the construction sector, which could have led to UAH 1 billion in damages. The developer and ministry officials organized a scheme involving land in Kyiv.
The HACC arrested former State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development Vasyl Volodin, suspected in a corruption scheme in the construction sector. The court set bail at UAH 20 million.
UNN also reported that the court postponed the selection of a pre-trial restraint for the former Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development in the case of procurement fraud.