Land scandal in Kyiv: Klitschko dismisses KCSA officials involved in corruption
3 April 2025 14:26
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has dismissed 7 high-ranking officials of the Kyiv City State Administration who were involved in an investigation into land corruption. Klitschko wrote about this in Telegram, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
He reminded that they had already been dismissed from their positions:
- deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Petro Olenych,
- deputy Head of Kyivblagoustriy Oleksiy Mushta,
- yuriy Leonov, deputy director of Spetszhilofond.
Also, a member of the Kyiv City Council and head of the land commission, Mykhailo Terentyev, was dismissed from his position as director of the Engineering Center. At the same time, the UDAR party faction started the procedure of recalling him from the Kyiv City Council.
Also dismissed:
- ihor Dolynskyi, director of the Kyiv Institute of Land Relations municipal enterprise
- volodymyr Shariy, director of the municipal enterprise “Spetszhilofond”
- deputy Director of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture Valentyna Svyatina.
“Viktor Pohrebnyi, director of the municipal enterprise Financial Company Zhytloinvest, is on sick leave. As soon as he comes out, he will be fired,” Klitschko emphasized.
He emphasized that other officials whose names were mentioned in the journalistic investigation have an uncertain procedural status in the criminal proceedings, and that the Secretary of the Kyiv City Council Volodymyr Bondarenko has the status of a witness.
“And he, as the secretary of the Kyiv City Council, was elected by the deputies. They can dismiss him. In accordance with the Kyiv City Council regulations and procedures. He is currently suspended from preparing and conducting meetings of the Kyiv City Council. I will prepare and chair the meetings as the mayor,” Klitschko said.
What was the reason for the mass dismissals?
According to the city administration, the decision to make the mass layoffs was the result of investigations into corruption schemes in land use and urban planning. Klitschko noted that informal schemes had been operating in the city for a long time, causing the city budget to lose significant funds.
Especially many questions arose about the work of Kyivzelenbud, Spetszhilofond, and the Kyiv Institute of Land Relations. These institutions were responsible for key areas of the city’s infrastructure, but have repeatedly been involved in investigations by anti-corruption agencies.
What to expect next?
Vitali Klitschko said that this personnel purge is just the beginning. He ordered to conduct:
- a full audit of the land plots that appear in NABU investigations. If violations are found, the land allotments will be canceled;
- inspect all utility companies, especially in the construction and infrastructure sectors;
- introduce new standards for personnel selection in city authorities to avoid corruption risks in the future.
In addition, the city authorities are preparing a package of legislative initiatives to close loopholes that allowed corrupt manipulations in the field of land relations and urban planning.
It is worth noting that today experts believe that massive dismissals in the KCSA are a powerful signal of the beginning of a “reset” of the capital’s authorities. Klitschko has made it clear that he is ready to act decisively to cleanse the administration of corrupt influences. However, the next steps depend on the effectiveness of the reforms and the ability of the authorities to actually monitor the implementation of anti-corruption measures.
It is also worth noting that the Kyiv mayor’s decision to start “personnel purges” could have been influenced by the Bihus.Info investigation, which focused on land corruption in the capital.
Bihus.Info investigation: how land corruption schemes worked in Kyiv
In March 2025, Bihus.Info journalists published a high-profile investigation that exposed large-scale corruption schemes in the field of land relations in Kyiv. It turned out that a group of KCSA officials and Kyiv City Council members were involved in the illegal distribution of city land.
Key figures in the investigation
According to journalists, the following people were involved in the corruption schemes:
- Denys Komarnitsky, a former Kyiv City Council member who is called the “watchdog for Kyiv.” He informally led a group of officials who made decisions on land issues in the capital.
- Petro Olenych is a deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration responsible for the city’s land policy. The investigation points to his involvement in the illegal allocation of land.
- Mykhailo Terentyev – Kyiv City Council deputy, head of the land commission, who participated in land misappropriation schemes.
- Olena Marchenko is a member of the land commission, who is also accused of involvement in fraud.
The journalists obtained audio recordings of negotiations in which the defendants talk about kickbacks and ways of making decisions on land distribution.
Legal consequences
According to the NABU, a corrupt group led by Komarnytskyi illegally appropriated a land plot in the center of Kyiv worth UAH 11 million and tried to take possession of six more plots worth more than UAH 83 million.
The OCG members used the so-called “toilet scheme”, which involved searching for attractive land plots and registering ownership of buildings in the name of controlled persons, which in many cases never existed on these plots. This allowed them to obtain priority ownership of the land under these ghost buildings.
Each participant in the crime performed a clearly assigned role to make the scheme work like clockwork, and an attractive piece of Kyiv land fell under the control of its organizer.
The scheme of seizing community land in the capital: what details are known about it
In 2023, when identifying key priorities within the Kyiv City State Administration, it was decided to focus efforts on exposing the so-called “watchdogs” and schemes in the land sector.
As the NABU later found out, an organized criminal group led by a former member of the Kyiv City Council was engaged in the illegal acquisition of land plots in Kyiv. After the 2019 elections, the head of the organized group gained influence on a number of processes – on deputies and officials of the Kyiv City State Administration.
This allowed him to agree on a list of draft decisions of the Kyiv City Council that were to be submitted for consideration or blocked.
According to the NABU, in 2023-2024, the group illegally seized land plots worth more than UAH 11 million and tried to appropriate 6 more land plots worth more than UAH 83 million. In the best traditions of a criminal organization, its members used special means of communication, pseudonyms and counter-surveillance to conceal their activities.
Ten people have already been served suspicion notices. Seven of them have been detained, including officials of the Kyiv City State Administration and Kyiv City Council. Komarnitsky himself is currently wanted in Ukraine.
Pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with an alternative to bail was imposed on the active members of the organized crime group:
- a member of the land commission of the Kyiv City Council – UAH 50 million
- deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration – UAH 15 million;
- head of the Land Commission of the Kyiv City Council – UAH 20 million;
- deputy Director of the municipal enterprise Kyivblagoustrii – UAH 7.5 million;
- first Deputy Director of the municipal enterprise Spetszhilofond – UAH 4.5 million.
