Гарус Сергій

Position: Director of the Municipal Enterprise "Misksvitlo" of the Chernihiv City Council.

Sphere of corruption: municipal property.

Region of corruption activity: Chernihiv.

Qualification: Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Status: at large.

Case plot: 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 concerns Serhiy Garus, the director of the Chernihiv Municipal Enterprise "Misksvitlo", 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 said that the suspicion concerns a case from 2016, when he held the position of head of the KP "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.
— says Serhiy Garus.

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
— Boldyrev noted.

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.

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 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 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: according to his electronic declaration, he owns a residential building in the village of Kolychivka with an area of 200 square meters. He is also a co-owner of a house in the village of Lukashivka with an area of 51 square meters. However, according to him, this house burned down.

The declaration also lists 24 land plots in the villages of Kolychivka and Ivanivka. 20 of them are registered to Serhiy Garus, four to his wife Zhanna. As he commented to Suspilny, all of these plots were purchased with his own money back in 2008, but due to changes in legislation, state registration for them took place in 2017.

In the declaration for 2024, Serhiy Garus indicated a number of vehicles. Among them are several trailers, including a passenger car (2007 model), a boat trailer (2005), two PSE-12.5A trailers (1988) and a DU-50 road roller (2018). Agricultural machinery was also declared: a PE-0.8 loader (2018) and a wheeled tractor of his own assembly (2024).

In addition, the property includes a watercraft "Dnipro" from 1978 worth UAH 7,000. Among the passenger cars declared are: Audi 80 from 1984 (worth UAH 30,000), VAZ 2121 from 1978, VAZ 21043 from 1992 and Volkswagen ID.4 from 2023 worth UAH 1,264,000, which belongs to his wife Zhanna Garus.

In his declaration, Serhiy Garus declared cash: UAH 70,000 and USD 57,000. In addition, he indicated that he had lent USD 30,000 to a third party. His wife, Zhanna Garus, keeps UAH 170,000 in cash.

Serhiy Garus also declared income in the form of salary from the Department of Education of the Chernihiv City Council - UAH 34,648, as well as from the Municipal Enterprise "Misksvitlo" of the Chernihiv City Council - UAH 305,223. Additionally, he received UAH 137 from donation at the Chernihiv Regional Blood Center and UAH 1,000 in payments from the regional trade union organization of housing and utilities.

Wife Zhanna Garus declared a salary of UAH 234,952 at the Main Department of the State Service for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in Chernihiv region and UAH 21,551 at the Regional Service Center of the State Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

In addition, daughter Maria Garus received an 8,000 UAH scholarship at the Kyiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.