NABU completed pre-trial investigation into ex-Minister Chernyshov in the Ministry of Regional Development case
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced the completion of the pre-trial investigation into the corruption case in the construction sector. The persons involved in the proceedings are the former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, who previously headed the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, as well as five other people. All of them are suspected of abuse of office and receiving illegal benefits.
The names of the suspects have not been officially disclosed, but they are likely to be Deputy Prime Minister for National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov, who previously headed the Ministry of Regional Development.
According to the investigation, the Kyiv developer organized a scheme to illegally obtain a land plot in the capital for the construction of a residential complex. To implement the plan, he turned to the then head of the Ministry of Regional Development, who, together with the state secretary, advisor and director of the state enterprise, created the conditions for transferring the land to this enterprise. Later, it concluded contracts with a predetermined construction company in violation of the law.
According to the terms of the agreements, the developer was to transfer to the state a part of the apartments equivalent to the value of the land plot. However, the land and the buildings on it were valued almost five times cheaper than the market price, which resulted in a difference of more than one billion hryvnias.
“This is the amount by which the state could have underpaid real estate in the event of the contracts being fulfilled. The implementation of the deal was prevented by the seizure of the land plot, imposed at the request of the NABU and the SAPO,» — the law enforcement officers noted.
For the successful implementation of the scheme, the developer provided the officials with significant discounts on apartments in already built residential complexes.
«Taking into account these discounts, the cost of a square meter was from 1 thousand to 8 thousand UAH at a minimum market price of about 30 thousand UAH per square meter. m. As a result, the minister received an illegal benefit in the form of a discount for a total amount of more than UAH 14.5 million,” the NABU reported.
The investigation into this case was publicly announced on June 13, when anti-corruption authorities announced the exposure of a large-scale corruption transaction involving top officials. Subsequently, suspicions were raised against the former State Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, a current member of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, and a former advisor to the minister.
Later, the investigation reported the suspicion to the then-current Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Oleksiy Chernyshov. On June 27, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court set him a preventive measure in the form of a bail of 120 million hryvnias.
