NABU completes investigation into ex-minister Chernyshov
The SAPO and NABU announced the completion of the investigation into a corruption case in the construction sector against the former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, who previously held the position of Minister of Community and Territorial Development, and five other individuals. They are suspected of abuse of office and receiving illegal benefits.
The agency does not disclose names, but one of them is likely to be Deputy Prime Minister for National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov, who previously headed the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development.
According to the investigation, one of the Kyiv developers developed a scheme to illegally obtain a plot of land in the capital for the construction of a residential complex. To do this, he turned to the then head of the Ministry of Regional Development, who, together with the state secretary of the department, an advisor and the director of a state enterprise, created conditions for the transfer of the plot to this enterprise.
The company then illegally entered into contracts with a pre-determined construction company. According to these documents, the developer was to transfer to the state a portion of the future apartments that would correspond to the value of the land plot. However, in order to reduce this amount, the land and existing buildings were valued almost five times cheaper than the market value, which resulted in a difference of more than 1 billion hryvnias.
This is the amount the state could have missed out on in the event of the contracts being executed. The implementation of the deal was prevented by the seizure of the land plot, imposed at the request of the NABU and the SAPO.
For the successful implementation of the scheme, the developer "rewarded" the minister and the persons designated by him with significant discounts on apartments in already constructed residential complexes, the department noted.
Taking into account these discounts, the cost of a square meter ranged from 1 thousand to 8 thousand UAH at a minimum market price of about 30 thousand UAH per sq. m. As a result, the minister received an unlawful benefit in the form of a discount for a total amount of more than 14.5 million UAH.
Oleksiy Chernyshov is a suspect in the EBK database.
Earlier, NABU and SAPO reported on suspicion of Chernyshov in receiving illegal benefits and abuse of office. After that, Bihus.info journalists established that Chernyshov and his wife are involved in the construction of a cottage town in Kozyn, Kyiv region. Based on these facts, NABU detectives launched an investigation into the alleged legalization of funds obtained by criminal means.
