Position: Chairman of the Semenivka City Council.
Sphere of corrupt activity: public procurement.
Region of corruption activity: Semenivka, Chernihiv region.
Qualification: Part 4, Part 5 of Art. 191, Part 2 of Art. 197-1, Part 1, Part 2 of Art. 364, Part 2 of Art. 367, Part 1 of Art. 114-1, Part 1, Part 3 of Art. 368, Part 5 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Motions have been prepared for the imposition of preventive measures and the removal of suspects from their positions.
Status: at large.
Case story: Semenivka City Mayor Serhiy Dedenko, with the assistance of the head of the public procurement organization sector of the Semenivka City Council and authorized persons for public procurement issues, is suspected of organizing the victory of a certain company during the procurement of solid fuel water heating boilers, rather than more economically advantageous tender offers. The local budget suffered losses of 594 thousand hryvnias.
The head of the Semenivska community in Chernihiv region, Serhiy Dedenko, noted that he does not agree with what he is accused of and will prove his case in court. This is how he commented to the Public on the presentation of suspicion, according to which he "organized the victory of the enterprise during the procurement of solid fuel water heating boilers."
This was at the beginning of 2023. We did everything legally. The prosecutor's office has its own vision, we have ours. The lawyer is working. We will prove our case in court
On August 15, 2025, the Novozavodskyi District Court of the city of Chernihiv ruled to retain Serhiy Dedenko as mayor of Semenivka. The prosecutor's office appealed this decision.
During a hearing at the Chernihiv Court of Appeal on August 25, prosecutor Ihor Moroz emphasized that Dedenko is suspected of corruption-related charges.
"One of these criminal offenses is a serious corruption crime. And these criminal offenses are directly related to the suspect's tenure as Semenivka Mayor. There is a risk that Serhiy Ivanovych may illegally destroy, forge, or alter relevant documents while serving as Mayor."
Serhiy Dedenko's lawyer Ivan Petrikei objected to the appeal being granted.
"Semenivka is under constant airstrikes, is undergoing constant destruction, and all this requires the prompt intervention of the mayor. We all know that he is taking on the responsibility of eliminating the consequences of this destruction, providing the community with proper quality critical services, and carrying out security measures. Since Dedenko ensured all necessary actions regarding the above in the first days of the war, we consider his removal from office to be unjustified."
During the meeting, Serhiy Dedenko asked to keep him in office.
"We have many challenges in the community, starting from coordinating work with military units that are located and conducting combat operations in our area. I communicate directly with them, approve plans for the defense of settlements. We do a lot of work on civil protection of the population. I am the head of the executive body - the executive committee, which makes decisions on the issuance of material assistance to the population and building materials necessary for the elimination and prevention of emergency situations."
Serhiy Dedenko also emphasized that he is negotiating with international partners regarding the construction of shelters and temporary housing for displaced people.
Ultimately, the panel of judges did not satisfy the prosecutor's office's appeal to remove Dedenko from the position of mayor of Semenivka.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: law enforcement officers of Chernihiv region have announced suspicions against 25 officials of local governments, military administration, heads and employees of municipal enterprises, directors of educational institutions, heads of companies. They are suspected of causing losses to the budget of almost 44 million hryvnias. law enforcement officers suspect the founder and general director of one of the LLCs of embezzling more than 3.2 million hryvnias of budget funds during the overhaul of the lyceum's catering unit. The director of this educational institution is also suspected of official negligence.
The director of one of the educational institutions and the deputy chief accountant are suspected of overstating the volume and cost of actually performed construction work in collusion with the director of an LLC during the thermal modernization of the school building. The losses are estimated at 1.5 million hryvnia.
Law enforcement officers also suspect the acting head of the education department of the Sosnytsia village council of purchasing educational equipment and supplies for the lyceum at inflated prices. The amount of damage is 350 thousand hryvnias.
The former head of the department for civil protection and defense work of the Chernihiv OVA is suspected of improper performance of his official duties, purchasing goods for the restoration of infrastructure destroyed as a result of the Russian aggression at inflated prices. The losses are 1.4 million hryvnias. This is the current deputy, head of the regional rescue and diving service, Serhiy Boldyrev, who in a comment to Suspilny said that the case concerns the events of 2022, when he was the director of the aforementioned department.
According to him, the suspicion was served regarding the purchase of building materials for the restoration of the village of Yahidne in May 2022.
We purchased a lot of different materials. Then the task was set to do it as soon as possible. We purchased everything from "Veni" (a Chernihiv hypermarket, — ed.), because I had been cooperating with them since 2014. And during this time there were no violations. They are the only ones who worked in the city in May 2022. At that time, such were the prices. They not only sold the goods, but also organized their delivery directly to the village, despite the danger. I did nothing wrong, and what's more — all these three years (2022, 2023 and 2024, — ed.) there were inspections, there was an audit, there were no complaints. I have been cooperating with the investigation all this time. And now I am ready to provide any explanations
Volodymyr Kryvenko, head of the housing and communal services department of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, is suspected of purchasing lumber at inflated prices to restore housing and infrastructure destroyed during the Russian Federation's armed aggression. The amount of damage is over 9.2 million hryvnias. He refused to comment on the situation to Suspilny and said that he is currently on vacation until August 25.
The head of the housing and communal services department of the Chernihiv City Council, Yaroslav Kuts, is suspected of abuse of office during the procurement of services for the arrangement of observation posts, defensive structures, and firing positions for a total amount of over 926 thousand hryvnias. In a comment to Suspilny, he confirmed that he received suspicion from law enforcement officers, but declined to comment.
The director of the Chernihiv City Council's "Parking and Market" municipal enterprise is suspected of abuse of office and the gratuitous transfer of the right to develop a communal land plot worth 831 thousand hryvnias to a private enterprise.
This is the director of the Chernihiv municipal enterprise "Misksvitlo" Serhiy Garus, who is currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In a comment to Suspilny, he confirmed that he had received suspicion under Article 364 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power or official position). He reported that the suspicion relates to a case from 2016, when he held the position of head of the municipal enterprise "Parking and Market".
According to Garus, the case concerns his signing of an investment agreement.
Suspicion is not a court verdict. Therefore, I will defend my constitutional rights.
The director of the Chernihivvodokanal enterprise, Serhiy Malyavko, is suspected of prior collusion with the director of the LLC and misappropriation of budget funds in the amount of over 18.8 million hryvnias during the purchase and supply of equipment for the reconstruction of the sewage treatment plant system damaged as a result of the Russian Federation's armed aggression.
A land surveyor engineer and farm owner are suspected of fraudulently acquiring 32 communal land plots with an area of 55.4 hectares, which caused 4.6 million hryvnia in losses.
The director of an agricultural enterprise was suspected of illegally taking over a two-hectare plot of historical and cultural land in Chernihiv district for growing crops.
The former director of one of the enterprises of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is suspected of illegally alienating the enterprise's apartment. The damage to the state-owned enterprise is estimated at 407 thousand hryvnias.
The authorized person for public procurement of the Chernihivvodokanal Enterprise, in complicity with other officials of the enterprise, is suspected of embezzling budget funds in the amount of 1.3 million hryvnias during the purchase of equipment for packaging drinking water, as well as of official negligence during the purchase of work suits for employees, which led to losses in the amount of 700 thousand hryvnias.
The actions of the suspects are classified under parts 4, 5 of Article 191, part 2 of Article 197-1, parts 1, 2 of Article 364, part 2 of Article 367, part 1 of Article 114-1, parts 1, 3 of Article 368, part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Motions have been prepared to impose preventive measures and remove the suspects from their positions.
Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings was carried out under the procedural guidance of prosecutors in cooperation with the Main Directorate of the National Police of the region and the SBU Directorate in Chernihiv region.
Assets: In his 2024 tax return, Dedenko listed an apartment, a residential building, and three land plots. He declared UAH 768,286 in salary as income. Dedenko keeps USD 27,500 in cash, and his wife has USD 3,500 and EUR 15,000.
Persons who should have reacted: in the case of Dedenko, law enforcement officers reacted in a timely manner.
Scandals: There is no information in open sources about other scandals in which Dedenko would appear.
Sources:
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/3f6193aa-415a-40c6-b0b8-4ce514f559f0