Before the court will appear the defendants in the case of misappropriation of property from "Kyivmiskbud"

Before the court will appear the defendants in the case of misappropriation of property from "Kyivmiskbud"

The SBI, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office, are trying to bring to justice persons who may be involved in the seizure of the property of HC Kyivmiskbud PJSC in the amount of 282.5 million hryvnias.

We are talking about non-residential premises and parking spaces in the residential complex "Charivne misto" (former project of the state corporation "Ukrbud"). So far, the law enforcement officers have established that a multi-stage scheme was used for the appropriation of real estate - starting with sending a fake letter regarding the need to sell these objects and ending with "fictitious" financial transactions regarding the payment of purchase agreements and "phantom" buyers. Several persons involved in relevant criminal cases have already received suspicions - they may appear before the court in the near future. Among them, it is worth mentioning Dmytro Kravchenko (on the collage in the center), who, according to the investigation, is the actual head of FC Zhytlo-Kapital LLC, which collected and distributed funds for the construction of the specified complex. Interestingly, one of the suspects is currently appealing that this real estate has not been built and will not even be built, therefore, they say, in fact, there are no losses. Whether such arguments will convince the law enforcement officers remains an intrigue.

As KV learned, law enforcement officers are currently studying the facts of a possible seizure of the property of Kyivmiskbud Holding Company PJSC - real estate in the "Charivne Misto" residential complex (18-26 Boryspilska St., Darnytskyi district of the capital).

The relevant investigation is carried out within the framework of two criminal proceedings at once, which were opened by the Main Investigative Department of the State Bureau of Investigation (GSU SBI): No. 42021000000002392 dated November 19, 2019 and No. 62024000000000720 dated August 16, 2024 (this case was separated from the previous one, which will go below).

The figures in these cases are accused of committing crimes provided for by a number of articles of the Criminal Code (CC) of Ukraine, in particular:

• Part 5 of Art. 191 – appropriation, embezzlement of property or possession of it by abuse of official position, if they are committed in particularly large amounts or by an organized group;
• Part 3 of Art. 206-2 – organization of illegal seizure of the enterprise’s property by committing acts using forged documents, with a prior conspiracy by a group of persons, which caused great damage;
• Part 1 of Art. 361-2 – unauthorized distribution of information with limited access, which is stored in automated systems or on carriers of such information, created and protected in accordance with current legislation, etc.

Complex schemes

In 2020, PJSC "HC Kyivmiskbud" undertook to complete a number of complexes of the state corporation "Ukrbud" - after the latter suffered a "financial collapse" and was unable to fulfill its obligations to investors, that is, apartment buyers. In particular, in the same year, on September 4, a contract was concluded on the construction of residential complex on the street. Boryspilska, 18, which was built "under the banner" of "Ukrbud". The parties to this agreement were the institution "28 Department of the Chief of Works (UNR)" of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (this is the customer of the construction of the residential complex "Charivne misto" back in the days when this complex was built by the mentioned state corporation), as well as LLC "Fortabud" and PrJSC " HC "Kyivmiskbud", to which the state structure is indicated, in accordance with the contract, transferred the functions of the customer.

Also, this agreement and additional agreements to it provided for clear allocations of real estate areas in the housing complex, which the parties should receive after putting this complex into operation. There are no clear data in the court rulings on these proceedings regarding how many "square meters" were "promised" to "Kyivmiskbud", "Fortabud" and "28 UNR". But, in particular, it is known that the last institution should receive 5% of the total area of apartments.

However, as stated in these court documents, in the future one of the participants in this case, following a preliminary collusion with the director of LLC "Ukrbudperekaz", which will be discussed below, decided to illegally take possession of the property of PJSC "Holding Company "Kyivmiskbud", "turning it to their advantage and for the benefit of other persons". That is, it was about the real estate that should have been transferred to "Kyivmiskbudu" - premises in the Public Service Center on the territory of this residential complex and a parking space in a semi-submerged parking lot (the X phase of the construction of this complex). And this scheme directly or indirectly involved "Fortabud" LLC and other companies, one way or another related to the construction of the "Charivne Misto" residential complex.

In the state register of court decisions, the name and surname of the aforementioned figure are not directly indicated - due to the presumption of innocence. However, information has already been published in the Ukrainian media about Dmytro Kravchenko, the ex-director of the LLC "Financial Company (FC) "Zhytlo-Capital", which was the manager of the construction financing funds (FFB) of the objects of the "Ukrbud" corporation, that is, engaged in collection of funds from investors for the construction of complexes and distribution of these financial resources. This is confirmed by the information available in the court rulings that this person was the head of the specified company in 2007-2012, as it was in reality. At the same time, the law enforcement officers noted that FC "Zhytlo-Kapital", like some other companies-figures, are under the control of the specified citizen.

Thus, according to the investigation, on February 9, 2021, Dmytro Kravchenko, together with other persons whom the law enforcement officers do not name, organized the drafting of a forged document - a letter from Fortabud LLC to FC Zhitlo-Capital LLC, in which the first company informed the second that , that in 2018 "Fortabud" entered into contracts for the purchase and sale of property rights for the Public Service Center and a semi-submerged parking lot on the territory of the "Charivne Misto" residential complex and that the corresponding premises are not included in the areas belonging to "UNR 28" and PrJSC "HK Kyivmiskbud" . At the same time, the law enforcement officers became aware that in fact such sales contracts were not concluded in 2018, and the signature under the letter to FC Zhytlo-Capital was not executed by the director of Fortabud LLC, but by another citizen, whose identity the law enforcement officers have not yet identified not installed

On the same day, February 9, additional lists of investment objects were drawn up and concluded between Fortabud LLC and FC Zhitlo-Capital LLC. According to these documents, "Fortabud" transferred to FC "Zhytlo-Capital" the property rights to the aforementioned real estate objects for their further sale. The law enforcement officers also consider these lists to be fake, because persons not identified by the investigation signed them on behalf of the director of Fortabud LLC, and also affixed the company’s seals to these signatures.

According to the law enforcement officers, Dmytro Kravchenko subsequently involved his wife and other persons in the implementation of the next stage of this scheme - the conclusion of participation agreements in the FFB in order to further acquire the above-mentioned real estate objects. That is, it was actually about attracting "fictitious buyers" of these objects. Later, in the period from February 15 to February 26, 2021, relevant contracts were concluded between FC Zhytlo-Capital LLC and three individuals whose names and surnames are not specified by law enforcement officers (among them was the wife of Dmytro Kravchenko).

At the same time, the law enforcement officers found out that the contracts between the specified company and the wife of Dmytro Kravchenko were dated to the period when the latter was outside Ukraine, namely in the Dominican Republic. In addition, the investigators established that the other two "buyers" did not intend to "participate in the specified FFB, obtain ownership of these real estate objects and pay the stipulated funds" and that these agreements were signed by them at the request of an unidentified person.

Court decision on the "first" proceeding, dated June 27, 2024

At the same time, the SBI established that in order to prevent the withdrawal of the specified agreements by law enforcement agencies and to hide the profile data of the individuals who signed them, Dmytro Kravchenko and officials of FC Zhytlo-Kapital LLC tried to create the appearance that these documents were allegedly withdrawn under the time of the search, which allegedly took place on February 8, 2022, as part of the same criminal proceedings. For this purpose, according to the investigation, the persons involved even "created" the decision of the Pechersk District Court dated February 2, 2022, which supposedly gave permission for such a search - that is, in fact, such a decision did not exist.

The SBI became aware of this fact after the law enforcement officers, already after their investigation, tried to get access to the documents of FC Zhytlo-Kapital LLC. At the same time, the participants "burned out" on a small trifle. Thus, the name of the prosecutor, who was not in the group of prosecutors on this case, was indicated in the protocol of the search, which did not actually exist. And in the future, the specified agreements were nevertheless seized by "real" law enforcement officers during the "real" search, which took place in August 2023.

As for the payment under the above-mentioned agreements, in order to "confirm the alleged implementation of the specified objects, it was planned to use funds in the amount of 123 thousand hryvnias to 12.2 million hryvnias through the implementation of repeated cyclical transactions between FC Zhttlo-Kapital LLC, LLC "National Assistance Fund" and "Ukrbudperekaz" LLC (these companies, according to the investigation, are under the control of Dmytro Kravchenko. - KV ) from the use of bank accounts of the specified companies opened at JSC "UkrgazBank". In particular, in the period from February 15 to March 1, 2021, 303 such cyclical multiple financial transactions were carried out, that is, the transfer of the same funds many times, by artificially making investment contributions in the amount of 282.5 million hryvnias on behalf of the above-mentioned three "buyers". In fact, according to the information of the law enforcement officers, these persons did not deposit any funds anywhere.

Later, according to court rulings, real estate was registered to Dmytro Kravchenko’s wife, but whether she became the sole owner, or whether these objects were registered to someone else, is currently unknown for sure

That is, obviously, it is about the fact that the organizers of this scheme and those involved in this case simply "transferred" the funds already available in the accounts of the mentioned companies between the accounts of the same companies - in order to record "on paper" that the above-mentioned real estate objects are allegedly being paid . As a result of the above actions, as established by the SBI, "Kyivmiskbud" was caused material damage in the amount of 282.5 million hryvnias - this is exactly the amount that was "driven" through bank accounts and, it seems, this is exactly the value of the real estate on which the plot was eyed . The specified amount of damages was confirmed by the forensic economic examination of November 23, 2023, conducted within the framework of this case.

Construction site residential complex "Charivne misto" as of December 2023 (photo - "LUN")

In June 2024, law enforcement officers under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General’s Office reported suspicions to a number of persons involved in these cases. Thus, the investigators officially indicted Dmytro Kravchenko for committing the crime provided for in Part 3 of Art. 206-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In addition, an employee of the State Tax Service and the head of the department of one of the branches of "Ukrgasbank" received suspicions: both of them are charged with part 1 of Art. 361-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as well as unauthorized actions by the taxman with information that is processed in electronic computing machines (part 2 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). According to the investigation, these citizens are acquaintances of Dmytro Kravchenko and provided him with official information from the bank and the tax service, respectively, which, we quote, "helped implement the property acquisition scheme."

Suspicion handed over to one of the accused (photo - Prosecutor General’s Office)

In the future, preventive measures were chosen for all these persons - for example, Dmytro Kravchenko was placed in custody with the alternative of posting bail in the amount of 282.6 million (!) hryvnias. On August 16, 2024, a "second" one was separated from the "first" criminal proceeding on this story - in order to investigate one of the involved parties separately. Less than a week later, on August 21, the prosecutor in the "first" case decided to complete the pre-trial investigation and open the materials of the pre-trial investigation to the parties. That is, preparations have begun for the transfer of this proceeding to the court for review on the merits.

It is also interesting that in August 2024, one of the suspects in the "first" case informed the board of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeals, which was considering one of his petitions, that currently the "Magic City" residential complex does not include a population service center and semi-submerged parking lot. Moreover, he referred to the fact that in June 2021, changes were made to the project of this complex, according to which, instead of building the specified objects, it was decided to build "additional" houses with apartments. That is, the suspect indicated that in reality the property that was allegedly lost by "Kyivmiskbud" does not exist and will not exist. At present, it remains an intrigue to what extent such arguments will be accepted by the SBI.

What is known about those involved

According to the Youcontrol analytical system, Fortabud LLC was registered in Kyiv in October 2015. Its head since December 2022 is Dmytro Yashchuk, and the founders are Anton Shevchenko, a resident of the city of Vyshneve, Kyiv region, and Pavlo Kostyuchenko, a native of Kyiv. The latter is also a co-owner of this company, and previously, from July 2021 until the appointment of Yashchuk, he was the director of this LLC. Another final beneficiary of "Fortabud" is Pavlo Hutsal, a resident of Kyiv.

In turn, FC Zhytlo-Capital LLC and KND LLC are more than obviously related. In particular, the first company is a co-founder of the second, and another co-founder of the "National Assistance Fund" is LLC "KTK-Group" , which is also the sole founder of "FC "Zhytlo-Kapital". At the same time, the Youcontrol system refers these three TOVs to the so-called "Maxim Lapa Group" , which unites more than two dozen companies engaged mainly in the spheres of providing financial services, in particular, lending and construction financing. The key person of this group is entrepreneur Maksym Lapa. Obviously, the above-mentioned Dmytro Kravchenko is also involved in the activities of these companies - in addition to information from law enforcement officers about this, for example, the fact that in 2022 he called himself the director of FC Zhytlo-Kapital LLC, although de jure he already was not

The aforementioned Ukrbudperekaz LLC is no stranger to these companies. Thus, as part of the above-mentioned cases, the law enforcement officers established that this company, as well as LLC "KND" and LLC "FK "Zhytlo-Kapital" LLC are actually "based" in the building on the street. Protasiv, Yar, b. 2D, which belongs to Dmytro Kravchenko. At the same time, the SBI became aware that the tax reporting of these three companies is submitted from the same IP address.

In addition, Maksym Mykytas (in the collage on the left) - the head of the state corporation "Ukrbud" (2010-2016) and a people’s deputy of the VIII convocation - had or still has connections with LLC "FK "Zhytlo-Kapital" and LLC "Casa Narodnoi Dopomohy" of the Verkhovna Rada (2016-2019, represented electoral district #206 in the Chernihiv region in the parliament). For example, in 2009-2012, Serhiy Yakusevych, Mykytas’ assistant-consultant in the Verkhovna Rada, was the founder of "People’s Aid Fund" LLC. In 2020, "Ukrainian Pravda" even reported that LLC "Kasa Narodnoi Dopomohy" was registered in Yakusevych’s house.

As KV previously wrote, during the first decade and a half of the 21st century, "Ukrbud" was an active player in the residential real estate construction market in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. The construction of almost three dozen residential complexes was announced under its brand, but in fact, state companies from this corporation participated in the construction of only three housing complexes. All other housing projects were built by private companies, which simply, on what grounds, used the "flags" of the state corporation and which at that time directly or indirectly belonged to Maksym Mykytas.

However, this "idyll" could not last forever, and about five years ago, "Ukrbud" began to run wild: first there was information about the developer’s financial problems, and then work on 26 construction sites was frozen. The main reason for this situation was the various abuses of the persons who organized these works, including embezzlement of funds, by the investors of these housing estates - about 13 thousand families.

By the way, even before the "death" of "Ukrbud", the controlling and law enforcement authorities were repeatedly interested in the cooperation of companies from its orbit with FC "Zhytlo-Kapital" LLC and "KND" LLC.

For example, in November 2015, investigators of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine opened a case based on the facts of the possible embezzlement of 541 million hryvnias from investors of the structures of "Ukrbud" in 2012-2014, which they contributed to the FFB. Among those who could be involved in such crimes, the "fiscals" named the officials of the above-mentioned two companies. And later, within the framework of the investigation opened in August 2019, the SBI investigators established that during 2016-2019, more than 180 million hryvnias were withdrawn from FC Zhytlo-Capital LLC under dubious circumstances, which was the reason for the "freezing" of construction work on objects of "Ukrbud". According to the information of the law enforcement officers, in order to embezzle funds, dubious contracts "for the provision of services" were concluded, and the recipients of the money were natural persons controlled by officials of a number of companies that participated in the construction of housing complexes under the "Ukrbud" brand.

As mentioned above, in the future, the completion of works on the Ukrbud facilities was entrusted to PJSC "HC Kyivmiskbud" - it was about the completion of 18 residential complexes, including "Harmony", "Sonyachna Riviera", "Pectoral", "Novomostytskyi" ”, “Kharkivskyi”, “Shevchenkivskyi”, “Zlahoda”, “Podol Grad”, etc. Despite the 2020-2021 coronavirus quarantine, "Kyivmiskbud" put 10 of these housing complexes into operation before the start of a full-scale war, by February 2022.

Delays in the completion of other facilities at the company in March 2023 were explained by several reasons, including the unresolved land issues on the plots under these complexes (an example is the "Art House" residential complex) and financial troubles. By the latter, "Kyivmiskbud" meant that the construction financing funds, they say, were emptied, and besides, the same LLC "FC "Zhytlo-Kapital" seemed to be in no hurry to transfer to the new developer the funds that investors paid for apartments in the "former" complexes of "Ukrbud".

Against the background of all these scandals, in March 2023, "Kyivmiskbud" appealed to the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) with a request to allocate funds in the amount of 1 billion hryvnias for the completion of a number of complexes, among which are residential complexes "Abrykosovyi", "Mirazh", "Urlivskyi-1" and "Urlivskyi-2". At the same time, "Kyivmiskbud" noted that 1.7 billion hryvnias are not enough for the full completion of all projects of the bankrupt "Ukrbud" - taking into account the dynamics of the increase in the cost of construction materials and energy carriers. The company also recalled that even before the full-scale war, "Kyivmiskbud" asked to provide state guarantees for obtaining a loan, which would help increase the pace of construction and start new stages of construction in "Ukrbud" complexes, but all such calculations and explanatory notes were allegedly left by the Cabinet of Ministers no answer

However, it was not destined to receive funds from the "Kyivmiskbudu" city treasury. After several journalistic investigations into the facts of possible corruption offenses on the part of the long-term chairman of the board - the president of this PJSC Igor Kushnir (in the collage on the right, he headed this developer from April 2012 to December 2023), the latter was initially removed from his position, and already on December 20, 2023 it became known about his release. However, the Kyiv City Council, which, after these materials in the media, undertook to study the issue of "recapitalization" of PJSC "HC Kyivmiskbud", for some reason did not find any violations on the part of the managers of this company or other persons. Instead of looking for the culprits in the situation, the city council recommended that the capital authorities turn to the Cabinet of Ministers with a demand for compensation to "Kyivmiskbud" for the total planned loss related to the completion of projects of the construction corporation "Ukrbud" in the amount of 2.28 billion hryvnias.

PJSC HC "Kyivmiskbud" de jure was registered in August 1995, but de facto the company traces its history from the middle of the 20th century - when the Main Department of Housing and Civil Construction under the Kyiv City Executive Committee was created. Currently, 80% of the shares of this holding company are owned by the territorial community of Kyiv. Since February 2024, this PJSC has been headed by Vasyl Oliynyk, ex-director of Spetsbud-Monolit LLC (2018-2024).

Ivan Kulyk KyivVlada