Position: deputy of the Pidhorodna City Council of the Dniprovsk district of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Sphere of corrupt activity: extortion.
Region of corruption activity: Dnipropetrovsk region.
Qualification: the official's actions were qualified under Part 4 of Article 189 (extortion committed by an organized group under martial law and with the threat of violence); Part 2 of Article 146 (illegal deprivation of liberty or kidnapping of a person).
Status: under arrest.
Case story: On November 18, 2024, law enforcement officers in the Dnipropetrovsk region exposed a group that kidnapped a businessman mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and demanded $2.5 million from him. The group was led by a local deputy. According to the investigation, the suspects demanded money from the businessmen, and if they refused, they kidnapped the victims, tortured them, and threatened to kill them.
Law enforcement officers reported a case where a criminal group attempted to extort $2.5 million from an entrepreneur who had joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war and is currently serving on the front lines.
Suspects in three cars blocked the serviceman's car and kidnapped him right on the road as he was heading to his unit. The victim was taken to a forest strip outside the city, where they beat him and threatened to kill him for an hour.
He was then taken to a previously prepared room, where he was held and tortured. After that, the kidnapped man was released, demanding that he find and hand over a large sum of money, as well as re-register part of the corporate rights to his business.
Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine detained the leader of the group during another series of threats against the victim. During searches, firearms and significant amounts of cash were found on the gang members, the origin of which is currently being verified.
According to media reports, the leader of the group was local MP Yuriy Pryshedko. He was suspected of extortion committed by a group of individuals.
Subsequently, the Mykolaiv court released him, setting bail at 1.2 million hryvnias, but the appeals court overturned this decision, so Pryshedko will remain in custody in the Lukyanivka pre-trial detention center for the next 60 days.
An investigation is underway to bring the deputy's accomplices to justice.
Individuals potentially involved in corruption schemes: In addition to Pryshidko, the criminal group included other participants. However, their names are not available in open sources.
Assets: in the declaration for 2023, Yuriy Pryshedko indicated 231 real estate objects at once. Of these, 95 are land plots and 135 residential buildings. At the same time, the deputy did not declare a single vehicle. The deputy's income in 2023 was UAH 18,007,698.
Pryshedko declared 12,000,000 UAH and 375,000 dollars in cash.
Persons who should have reacted: law enforcement agencies responded in a timely manner to the criminal activities of Pryshedko, who is currently under arrest.
Scandals: as the StopKor publication noted in 2023, a number of criminal proceedings involving the deputy can be found in open sources.
Most of them concern illegal land acquisition, forgery of documents, intimidation of farmers, etc. The last one – a still unsolved case – concerns possible abuse of office by officials of the Spasskaya and Mykolaivskaya village councils of the Novomoskovsk district when issuing documents on ownership of real estate and a subsequent attempt to acquire land plots through fraud.
Sources:
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/c56cd1a4-664d-4cdf-9e9a-bf13252cf9d4