Position: Mayor of Zdolbunivka.
Sphere of corruption: agricultural.
Region of corruption activity: Zdolbuniv city, Rivne region.
Qualification: Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an improper benefit by an official).
Status: suspended from office, 24-hour house arrest.
The plot of the case: in the summer of 2024, the head of a community in the Rivne region and two accomplices were caught receiving a bribe of $11,350. According to the investigation, the perpetrators demanded and received an illegal benefit for the transfer of a land plot for long-term lease to an entrepreneur.
The head of the community was to receive $10,000, and the rest was to be received by the accomplices.
As ZAXID.NET learned from its own sources, the person in question is the 41-year-old head of the Zdolbunivska community, Vladyslav Sukhlyak. The official has already been charged under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obtaining unlawful benefit in a significant amount). He faces five to ten years in prison for the crime.
Currently, Vladyslav Sukhlyak is under 24-hour house arrest.
Subsequently, the Rivne City Court decided to temporarily suspend Vladyslav Sukhlyak from the position of mayor of Zdolbunov due to suspicion of bribery.
In February 2025, it became known that, based on materials from the Security Service of the region, a pre-trial investigation was completed into the mayor of the Zdolbunivka urban territorial community, Vladyslav Sukhlyak, a lawyer, and their "mediator", who demanded a bribe from a local businesswoman for resolving the issue of transferring land for long-term lease.
As the investigation established, the director of the company turned to a local lawyer with a request to help her obtain the right to use a land plot outside the city of Zdolbuniv for business activities.
The lawyer contacted the "mediator", who informed him that the issue could only be resolved through the mayor by paying him an amount of over half a million hryvnias.
Using his official position, the official guaranteed the adoption by the city council deputies of a decision to transfer 0.5 hectares of land. During the authorized searches, cash and documentation with evidence of illegal activity were discovered and seized.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: their names are not in the public domain, however, it is known that indictments were also sent to the court against the other two defendants for abuse of influence, provided for in Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Assets: In his 2023 declaration, Sukhlyak indicated two residential buildings and two apartments. There are also three cars in the declaration: AUDI Q5, RENAULT MEGANE, Chevrolet Aveo — Sukhlyak did not indicate their value.
He also declared UAH 827,056 in salary, but according to Sukhlyak's declaration, he has no monetary assets.
Persons who should have reacted: in the case of Sukhlyak, law enforcement officers reacted in a timely manner.
Scandals: in 2018, it was written online that Vladyslav Sukhlyak was not allowed to compete for the position of chief physician of the Rivne Regional Hospital.
The commission members motivated their refusal as follows - they say that Mr. Vladislav did not provide a full package of documents. Seven commission members voted "for" this decision, two "against". In the afternoon, only one candidate, Ivan Zima, who headed the hospital before, will be interviewed.
In addition, Sukhlyak also got into a scandal in 2022. The media wrote that a new headmistress had been appointed at the Zdolbunivka kindergarten "Ladonki". At that time, the kindergarten employees were outraged that the mayor had appointed "his own secretary" to this position.
We later sent a request to the Zdolbunivsk City Council asking for a copy of the new kindergarten director's resume. However, we were refused an answer twice.
Lidia Romanchuk, an employee of the Ladonki kindergarten, told reporters that, according to her, Mayor Zdolbunov appointed Oksana Guk as the head of the kindergarten out of his own interests as "his own person."
The media sent a request to the Zdolbunivsk City Council.
They asked us to provide a copy of her work history and a copy of her income and property declaration. They also asked what her salary was. This was on June 13.
Initially, the mayor of Zdolbunov, Vladyslav Sukhlyak, reported that the kindergarten director does not have to file a declaration at all, and her salary is 8,878 hryvnias 10 kopecks.
Sukhlyak also wrote back that a work biography is a component of an employee's personal file, and a personal file is a document for official use. And that a work biography contains personal data.
Further, the answer already states that confidential information cannot be disclosed without the consent of the person themselves.
However, according to the Law "On Personal Data Protection", personal data related to a person's performance of their official duties is not confidential information.
Sources:
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/4d838249-9a66-4a13-9fb0-2c6a44f14a65