The NABU-SAPO charge former MP and developer Maksym Mykytas and officials of Ukrbud Development and the National Guard with misappropriating National Guard property worth over UAH 81 million.
Details of the scheme
The events of the “apartment case” began back in the early 2000s. At that time, the Internal Troops Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the predecessor of the National Guard) concluded an agreement with Ukrbud. Under its terms, residential real estate was to be built on the site of a former military unit in Pechersk, Kyiv. In exchange for the military unit's land plot, the National Guard was to receive 50 apartments in the Aristocrat residential complex and 30 parking spaces.
In 2016–2017, National Guard officials and Ukrbud concluded supplementary agreements under which the NGU gave up the apartments and parking spaces in central Kyiv in exchange for 65 apartments in a building in the Oberih residential complex on the outskirts of the city. An expert examination conducted during the pretrial investigation established that the value of this housing was in fact UAH 81.63 million lower than the original offer, but the amount in the documents remained unchanged.
What is known about the individuals in the case
The defendants in the case are:
- Maksym Mykytas, organizer of a criminal organization, former MP, and beneficial owner of Ukrbud Development LLC;
- Oleh Maiboroda, former general director of Ukrbud and DOM production company;
- Serhii Yakusevych, Maksym Mykytas's assistant during his time as an MP and executive director of Ukrbud;
- Viacheslav Marmysh, former prosecutor, attorney, and former vice president for legal affairs of Ukrbud Development Corporation. He died in 2022, but his wife objected to closing the case, seeking the posthumous exoneration of the deceased;
- Yurii Allerov, former commander of the National Guard from December 2015 to May 2019;
- Vitalii Leshchenko, former deputy head of a division of the Main Housing and Maintenance Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Allerov's former adviser Oleh Borysov and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office and former Ukrbud Development lawyer Oleh Tatarov were also suspects in the “apartment case.” According to the detectives, Tatarov could have arranged a “correct” expert examination for Ukrbud. It was carried out by the State Research Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. In exchange for a falsified expert opinion that would conceal the losses and legitimize the supplementary agreements with the National Guard, Tatarov was to arrange for a bribe to be passed to the center's deputy director, Kostiantyn Dubonos, in the form of a parking space in the Aristocrat residential complex worth UAH 250,000. In return, the expert was to state in the report that the difference in the value of the apartments was only UAH 7 million rather than UAH 81 million.
Oleh Tatarov
Iryna Venediktova
The story of the notice of suspicion to Tatarov turned into a real saga. Right before the notice was served, then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova replaced the prosecutors in the case. Then there was an attempt to transfer the case to the SBI, but anti-corruption prosecutors challenged that decision and served Tatarov with the notice of suspicion after all. Eventually, Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksii Symonenko transferred Tatarov's case to the SSU, where it has effectively remained ever since, even though the statutory investigation period has already expired. The public and the media accused Iryna Venediktova of “burying” the case.
Appraiser Alisa Hrynchuk and Olena Soloma were also served with notices of suspicion in the case. Their case files were severed into separate proceedings. On November 10, 2020, the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv found them guilty under plea agreements of concealing a crime and forging documents. The court sentenced Hrynchuk to 4 years of imprisonment with a probationary period of 2 years, and Soloma to 3 years of imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year.
Incriminated offenses and other episodes of the scheme
The individuals in the case have been charged with the following offenses:
- Mykytas: Article 191(5), Article 369(4), Article 209(3), and Article 358(3), (4) of the Criminal Code;
- Allerov: Article 191(5), Article 368(4), and Article 358(4) of the Criminal Code;
- Leshchenko: Article 191(5) and Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code;
- Yakusevych: Article 191(5), Article 369(4), Article 209(3), and Article 358(3), (4) of the Criminal Code;
- Marmysh: Article 191(5), Article 209(3), and Article 358(3), (4) of the Criminal Code;
- Maiboroda: Article 191(5), Article 369(4), Article 209(3), and Article 358(3), (4) of the Criminal Code.
The investigation subsequently uncovered new details indicating that the individuals in the case had tried to conceal the scale of the losses. In early December 2020, Mykytas was served with a new notice of suspicion under Article 369(3) of the Criminal Code. According to the investigation, Mykytas did in fact bribe Kostiantyn Dubonos. On November 30, 2020, Dubonos was served with a notice of suspicion under Article 368(3) of the Criminal Code. Meanwhile, when NABU detectives began investigating the case and sought to reclaim it, Ukrbud transferred additional apartments worth UAH 7 million to the NGU in an attempt to evade liability.
In addition, detectives established that the National Guard leadership had received unlawful benefits. Yurii Allerov received $100,000 in cash, and his subordinate Vitalii Leshchenko received $25,000, for signing supplementary agreements favorable to Ukrbud. A scheme was also carried out for the “preferential” purchase of real estate for Allerov's daughter: she received a 76-square-meter apartment at a price three times below market value (UAH 592,000 instead of UAH 1.8 million), which de facto constituted a disguised bribe.
The investigation also established that Mykytas and other individuals in the case used forged property appraisal reports and expert opinions. This is the episode involving appraisers Alisa Hrynchuk and Olena Soloma mentioned above. The documents were used in the exchange of apartments with the NGU and to further conceal the crime.
Other cases against Mykytas
In addition to this case, Mykytas is a defendant in the case of bribing Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov and in the case of embezzlement at Ministry of Defense depots. He also received notices of suspicion in the case concerning raiding and the posting of bail for a defendant in the Midas case, in the case concerning the embezzlement of funds during the construction of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility, and in the case concerning a bribe for Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman. Read more about each of these cases in our material.
The trial stage
The trial has been marked by constant disruptions of court hearings, abuses by the defense, and frequent postponements because of the military defendants' official assignments or the illness of participants. In addition, the composition of the panel of judges has already changed twice, and each time the trial restarted from the beginning.
03/11/2021
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