"New" faces in the Prosecutor’s Office: the career of Oleksandr Filchakov
Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka has appointed Oleksandr Filchakov, the head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2, as the prosecutor of Kharkiv region.
This is reported by Prosud.
«I order the appointment of Oleksandr Filchakov to the position of prosecutor of Kharkiv region starting from October 1, 2019, relieving him of the position of head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2 of Kharkiv region». A heartfelt appointment. Especially if you consider the professional «achievements» of this prosecutor. A real bloodsucker. And everyone in Kharkiv region has known this for a long time. But Ryaboshapka doesn’t know; it seems he’s been «banned from Google».
Here’s what journalist Yuriy Nikolov writes about this: «Have mercy, what a thief has become the prosecutor of Kharkiv region by the order of Prosecutor General Ryaboshapka, who is Zelenskyy’s «100% my person». They didn’t even Google before the appointment. Or did they Google after all? I remember the romantic times after the Maidan, when the editorial team of «Our Money» slept less than usual, digging through all possible databases and sources to check candidates for NABU and other state bodies. Back then, it was still possible to knock thieves out of personnel competitions. But now, no one checks anything. Old faces transform into new ones with a simple test of «shoe-changing».
Negative selection in its purest, untainted form. Justice is replaced by the «Law and Order» fund. Corruption breeds incompetence and kills safety standards.
And yes, in this case, I chose the source of information with particular cynicism.»
Well, and more details about this «new face».
Prosecutor Oleksandr Filchakov: Promotion instead of prison and hard labor
The practice of prosecutors extorting businesses for personal enrichment has persisted even after the Revolution of Dignity. And prosecutors linked to bribe demands are not only not dismissed but have even received significant promotions. Meet Oleksandr Filchakov — the head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2.
A well-known practice during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych was the extortion of so-called «kickbacks» from entrepreneurs by prosecution officials. Using their official positions, law enforcement officers either «helped» businesses operate successfully or, conversely, made their work impossible. In both cases, they demanded a certain sum of money or a percentage of the entrepreneur’s income for themselves. But this practice has persisted even after the Revolution of Dignity, and prosecutors associated with bribe extortion are not only not dismissed but have also received significant promotions in rank.
Meet Oleksandr Filchakov — the head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2
We know little about Oleksandr Vasylovych’s career. It is known that on September 9, 2010, he was appointed by order of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleksandr Medvedko as the prosecutor of Derhachi district of Kharkiv region. It was in this position that Oleksandr Filchakov became the subject of several journalistic investigations.
Four years later, on November 20, 2014, Oleksandr Filchakov was appointed to a new position — prosecutor of the Kyiv district of Kharkiv city.
His current position was obtained quite recently by the 38-year-old Oleksandr Vasylovych. He was appointed as the head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2 of Kharkiv region on January 30, 2017, by a corresponding order of the Prosecutor General.
By the way, in the State Register of Court Decisions, we learned that another candidate for the position of head of Kharkiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 2, Oleksandr Shcherban, filed a lawsuit against Oleksandr Filchakov, demanding the cancellation of the order on his appointment.
Such a rapid and successful career for a prosecutor seems strange, considering the assessments of his work by journalists. In 2013, a report on the «Money» program discussed a corrupt deal involving funds allocated for school repairs in Derhachi district, where Oleksandr Filchakov was the prosecutor. However, according to journalists, it was Oleksandr Vasylovych who allowed the district police to close a clear-cut criminal case about a criminal group in power and personally «handled» the issue of removing compromising documents from police and SSU safes. And it was after this that the prosecutor began driving a new BMW X5, which he still uses, although the car is registered to his father. According to journalists’ estimates, about 3 million UAH was stolen during the school repairs.
Another report on the «Money» program about Oleksandr Filchakov was aired in 2011. The investigation states that prosecutor Filchakov demanded money from entrepreneurs — 150,000 UAH for the prosecutorial fund «Law and Order». If official registers are to be believed, this fund is still operational, headed by Yuriy Shramko. It was Shramko who appealed to the founders of this fund to purchase a Skoda Octavia A5 for prosecutor Oleksandr Filchakov. We publish a fragment of this document, which states that the car costs 178,000 UAH. And, most interestingly, a car of this exact model is currently in the private ownership of the prosecutor’s father.
The purchase of this car was, in a direct sense, paid for by entrepreneur Skrypka, who initially agreed to pay 150,000 UAH for a new toy for the prosecutor. However, when they came to demand another 200,000 UAH, he decided to seek help from journalists. For this, the entrepreneur spent about a month in detention. Meanwhile, the prosecutor was not only not dismissed but began receiving promotions.
Such methods of earning seem to have appealed to the prosecutor’s young 27-year-old wife — Yuliya Filchakova. It is known that she still works as a prosecutor in the Derhachi district prosecutor’s office, that is, in the same place where her husband recently worked.
We also analyzed the prosecutor’s declarations for 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016 years. During this time, Oleksandr Vasylovych earned 546,000 UAH. His wife, Yuliya, declared an income of 124,000 UAH for the same period.
As is traditional, the most valuable declared property of the prosecutor is owned by his parents. Thus, his mother, Anna Filchakova, owns a house in Kharkiv and the land under it. The area of this residence is 211 m², and Anna Mykhailivna received it based on a gift agreement in 2013.
Despite low incomes, in 2011, 27-year-old Yuliya Ihorivna purchased an apartment in Kharkiv with an area of 144 m². She bought it for 490,000 UAH (61,000 USD). However, we were unable to identify the location of the residence due to its absence in the Register of Property Rights.
In Oleksandr Filchakov’s ownership, there is only a plot of land in the village of Solonytsivka, in Derhachi district, where he previously worked. Also, since 2009, he has had the right to use a room in Mala Danylivka, also in Derhachi district. The owner of the room is the Kharkiv State Zooveterinary Academy. In Derhachi itself, the prosecutor’s father, Vasyl Filchakov, owns another 10 hundredths of a hectare of land.
The prosecutor does not own a personal car. He only uses the aforementioned father’s BMW X5, a 2010 model.
Interestingly, at the time of filming the prosecutor’s house, there was not just one BMW X5 in the yard, but also another car of the same brand with almost identical license plates. However, unfortunately, we were unable to confirm or refute information about the presence of another car in the prosecutor’s ownership.
The father also owns a less expensive car, a Skoda Octavia A5 from 2008, which we mentioned earlier. Such a number of cars owned by a pensioner father seems not to benefit him. In 2017, Vasyl Filchakov (or his full namesake) was detained drunk driving. However, since the statute of limitations for administrative liability had expired, the case against Vasyl Filchakov was closed. Whether such a closure was possible without the help of his prosecutor son is a relevant question for the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
In addition, the prosecutor’s father was among the founders of the now-liquidated LLC «Prometey 100». This company was engaged in notarial activities, although Vasyl Filchakov is neither a notary nor a lawyer. However, among the co-founders of LLC «Prometey 100» is Hryhoriy Sklyarenko. A person with the same name and surname was a member of the Derhachi District Council from the Party of Regions.
Thus, as we can see, even after the Revolution of Dignity, prosecutors with knowledge of well-established schemes for obtaining «kickbacks» from businessmen find a place in the current prosecution system. Moreover, Oleksandr Filchakov has made a rapid career since 2011 and today holds an important position in the regional center. Such personnel in prosecutor’s offices once again demonstrate that the cleansing of this body has completely failed. Therefore, we will continue to closely monitor the electronic declarations of prosecutor Filchakov and his career ascent.
01 October 2019 ã., 11:21
