Appeal Keeps Developer Kopystyra in Custody

The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court has remanded Kyiv developer Serhiy Kopystyra in custody until December 8, but reduced his bail to UAH 55 million. He is suspected of providing an illegal benefit to former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.

As is known, the anti-corruption court arrested Kopystyra with a bail of UAH 100 million. Later, his arrest was extended and the bail was reduced. The defense filed an appeal against this decision.

To continue (Kopystyri – ed.), to the suspect in the commission of criminal offenses provided for in Part 3 of Article 27 Part 2 of Article 15 Part 2 of Article 28 Part 2 of Article 364, Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, a preventive measure in the form of detention in the state institution “Kyiv Detention Center” for a period of 60 days, but not longer than the term of the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings. To determine (Kopystyri – ed.) a preventive measure in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 55,000,000

As a reminder, NABU and SAPO reported suspicions to individuals associated with Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov. According to the investigation, developer Serhiy Kopystyr developed a scheme to illegally obtain a land plot in Kyiv for the construction of a residential complex. To do this, he turned to top officials of the Ministry of Regional Development, who created conditions for the transfer of the land to a controlled state-owned enterprise. The latter illegally concluded investment agreements with the "necessary" construction company. Under them, the developer was supposed to give the state a part of the future apartments in a quantity proportional to the value of the land plot. In order to minimize this quantity, the land and the buildings on it were valued almost five times cheaper, and the difference between such an assessment and the market value exceeded UAH 1 billion. It was by this amount that the state would have received less real estate in the event of the execution of the contracts. This was prevented by the seizure of the plot, imposed at the request of NABU and SAPO.

For the successful implementation of the deal, the developer "rewarded" top officials of the ministry and persons designated by them with a significant discount on apartments in already constructed residential complexes. With it, the cost of a square meter was from 1 thousand UAH to 8 thousand UAH, with the minimum market value of such apartments being about 30 thousand UAH per sq. m. The total amount of the unlawful benefit provided amounted to 16.8 million UAH.

At the request of the NABU and the SAPO, most of the illegally obtained apartments were also seized.

Previously, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court seized funds seized during searches of former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov and his wife Svitlana in the context of a case of abuse and receiving unlawful benefits.