Oleh Petrenko seized shares and "protected" criminal drug groups

Ukrainian "Chicago" - this was how Irpin was once referred to by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko due to the rampant criminal schemes and low crime detection rates prevalent here.

Despite all the authorities’ efforts to create an image of a comfortable and cozy city, it is here that activists’ cars are burned more often than others, attacks on people occur in broad daylight, and criminal schemes for stealing land and green spaces from the community are organized. A new head of the local police was appointed to change the situation. However, facts from his biography suggest that this is an insurmountable task for him.

44-year-old Police Colonel Oleh Petrenko was appointed as the head of the municipal division of the National Police in Irpin in March 2019. In this role, he replaced the controversial Interim Officer Dmytro Lytvyn, who went on to become the deputy head of the regional police under Dmytro Tsenov, considered the main patron of the developers’ corrupt schemes in the city from the law enforcement side. It is precisely because of Tsenov’s strong connection with former Irpin mayor Volodymyr Karplyuk (including thanks to cooperation on a commercial basis), that crimes related to illegal construction, attacks on activists protesting against it, and any violations by construction company owners, officials, and city council deputies, up to drunk driving, are not investigated in the city.

Immediately after his appointment, Petrenko ambitiously stated that he came to the city to increase crime detection. This was formally expected of him by the regional leadership as well. Well, it is time to, paraphrasing a famous advertisement, talk "about Petrenko honestly."

From open sources, as well as from employees in law enforcement familiar with this policeman’s activities, we have gathered a whole bunch of facts about Petrenko, after which no one will have doubts about his "competence," "honesty," and "readiness" to rid Irpin of crime.

Previous Places of Employment

Petrenko himself was born in the Baryshivskyi district of the Kyiv region, where much of his career has taken place. Notably, from 2011 to 2014 - during the rule of Viktor Yanukovych - he headed the Baryshivskyi district police department.

As the district department chief, he should have been affected by the lustration law or failed certification in the new police. He was ousted from Baryshivka after the Euromaidan when the newly elected district head expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the old bureaucrat. Using his connections in the "old" regional police, Petrenko tried to retreat to Zghurivka - already in April 2014, he was slated to be appointed as the Acting Chief of the district police department. Despite protests from activists rebelling against the "varangian" with a "regional" past, he managed to stay in Zghurivka without much success until mid-2015. After this, Petrenko "quietly" moved to Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi, where he was first deputy head of the district, and then head of the city police. He managed to hold on here only thanks to strong (possibly corrupt) connections with Vitaliy Yarema - the former Deputy Prime Minister and former Prosecutor General.

14 Hectares of Land for the Family

But let’s return to the Yanukovych times. Being an "authoritative" leader, Petrenko conspired with the then-head of the Baryshivskyi RDA Volodymyr Tymchenko and, in exchange for "covering up" the latter’s criminal schemes, received 14 hectares of pastures in December 2012. Petrenko recorded 7 plots of 2 hectares each in the name of his relatives - mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, elder son, brother, and sister-in-law, as well as his own brother.

"Covering" Agribusiness in the Pereyaslav Region

According to the internal security department of the National Police, Petrenko at his previous place of work before Irpin wasted no time even after the Revolution of Dignity. Through his subordinates - former deputy chief Vasyl Nevertiy and former deputy chief of the investigation department Andriy Chychyrkin, as well as his wife - prosecutor Svitlana Chychyrkina - the new chief police officer of Irpin demanded money from entrepreneurs in the Baryshivskyi, Zghurivskyi, and Yahotynskyi districts for "protection." He allegedly received regular tribute monthly. In particular, the agribusiness "Supiy" was involved in the criminal case 42017111100000286 concerning illegal land seizure for agricultural purposes. The "protection" obviously involved blocking the progress of the investigation of criminal cases. Although it’s quite possible that the case itself was initiated to "encourage" the agro company to "friendly" relations on the terms of a subscription fee.

"Covering" Racket and Criminal Gangs

While serving in positions in the Pereyaslav district department, Petrenko managed to "do business" in the Zghurivskyi and Yahotynskyi districts. In one of the letters addressed to the internal security office of the National Police in August 2016, head of the Yahotyn department of the Boryspil local prosecutor’s office Mykola Shylenko indicated that Petrenko was involved in facilitating the activities of a local organized crime group, (in particular, figured in the criminal case 12016110320000446). Members of the criminal gang had to give Petrenko part of the "earnings," for which they received immunity from the police, who simply "did not notice" them. Unsurprisingly, the criminals were only detained in March 2017, when the local SSU office engaged in eradicating racketeering in the area.

Petrenko also does not disdain "covering" drug trafficking. However, this sometimes has dire consequences. Recent shootings of the deputy chief of the Baryshivskyi district police near Kyiv (he was rumored to be one of Petrenko’s aides in this matter) are just a result of the failure to reach a common language with such groups on the part of law enforcement. And it is still unclear what will prevail in this case - the general "gentleman’s pact" of non-aggression with drug couriers or the need to uphold the honor of the uniform and solve the murder of a fellow officer.

"Seizing" Land for Brother’s Business

For many police officers, 2014 and the revolution were a point of repentance and rethinking of their previous lives, but Oleh Petrenko only developed and deepened his criminal activities. In particular, facts established by the internal security department include organizing pressure on land plot owners (simply put - intimidation and threats of criminal cases) to lease land to the family farm "L.Y.U.K.S," founded by his brother Yuriy and his son Mykola. Moreover, Yuriy’s wife Lyudmyla and the second son Oleksandr also work there.

Over the years of "work" in the region, Petrenko managed to "devour" 40 land plots totaling 124 hectares for the family from local farmers of the Baryshivskyi district. Of these, as many as 10 were leased in one day - December 15, 2018, just three months before his appointment in Irpin.

"Covering" "Euro-license Plates"

One of Oleh Petrenko’s close friends is Serhiy Ladovchyn, head of the Bucha and Irpin "AvtoYevroSyla" organizations - simply put - "Euro-license Plate Holders." The clever policeman has long had his eye on the "affordable customs clearance activists" as a driving force for various protests, and keeps them on a "short leash" just in case. Ladovchyn provides Petrenko with information both about the local initiatives of the organization and its active members, the coordination system between the regional divisions of "AES," etc. At the same time, as one might guess, "AES" members are effectively insured against serious fines or thorough investigation of traffic accidents involving them within the "Petrenko indulgence" zone. Therefore, the residents of Irpin can expect aggravation to the already complicated traffic situation in the city soon.

Property: "Church Mouse" with "Under-the-Table" Incomes

According to data from the state real estate register, Oleh Petrenko owns "only" a house with a total area of 76 sq. m, located in his native village of Lekhnivka, and a plot of land of 2170 sq. m. Additionally, his wife Olha owns an apartment in Boryspil, where he lived over the last year. The apartment with an area of 71 sq. m was bought by Olha in 2018 for 300,000 UAH, that is, at 4,300 UAH per "square," which is at least three times lower than the actual cost of housing in this satellite city of the capital, which is about 10-12,000 UAH. So the apartment was clearly purchased through schemes or through pressure by her husband on the local authorities/developer, or it was entirely a bribe for some service of the district police chief.

Besides the apartment, Olha Petrenko owns nearly 35 acres of land in the village of Lekhnivka. The family uses a Honda CR-V 2005 vehicle, which they bought in 2015.

Formally, the family lives quite modestly. Oleh Petrenko’s income for 2018 was about 200,000 UAH (16,700 UAH per month), and his wife Olha’s income was 165,000 UAH (13,800 UAH per month) - she is an official in the Baryshivskyi department of youth, education, and sports. In "reserve," the family has jointly 310,000 UAH in cash. But where it came from is unclear. After all, according to declarations since 2015 available in the NACP registry, this money is not traced. Therefore, the new head of police in Irpin has earned at least one or two administrative protocols, and possibly a criminal case for submitting false information in the declaration.

After this real, not fictional press service of the regional police, biography, the question of whether Oleh Petrenko will increase crime detection and decrease the crime rate in Irpin seems to be self-evident. To speak plainly, a person with such an evidently expressed "enthusiasm-covering" reflex is unlikely to resist the temptations offered by a city of victorious developers. And it is precisely such a "hand puppet" that clever Dmytro Tsenov needs so that corruption flows from Irpin become increasingly full-fledged.

Illya Kyrylov