Case description
The NABU and the SAPO accuse former Kyiv City Council member Vladyslav Trubitsyn and five other people of receiving UAH 1.39 million in bribes for placing retail outlets in Kyiv.
In February 2022, NABU detectives exposed Kyiv City Council member Vladyslav Trubitsyn. In collusion with his close associates and officials of municipal enterprises, the former council member allegedly organized a scheme to extort money for issuing permits to install kiosks (retail outlets) in various districts of Kyiv.
In addition to Trubitsyn, the following individuals are involved in this case:
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Aman Molamov, former director of Miskyi Mahazyn Municipal Enterprise,
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his deputy Oleksii Nepriakhin,
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Dmytro Kovalchuk, deputy director of Kyivska Spadshchyna Municipal Enterprise,
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Illia Lif and Artem Bilynskyi, Trubitsyn’s assistants.
According to investigators, whistleblower Maksymenko was seeking entrepreneurs interested in seasonal trade, while Trubitsyn and his partners guaranteed them a victory in tenders without competition. Official payments for the placement of retail outlets amounted to UAH 50,000 per year, but entrepreneurs were forced to pay an additional UAH 15,000 to UAH 25,000 for each outlet.
The first tranche of the bribe, amounting to UAH 130,000, was transferred in December 2021. Trubitsyn and Molamov received the money for their assistance in placing the Kupava retail outlet on Dehtiarivska Street. Later, a competition was held for other locations, with the total amount for seven retail outlets reaching UAH 1.39 million.
Trubitsyn and the other defendants were caught red-handed while receiving UAH 1.26 million. According to the NABU, this was the second tranche of the bribe that was demanded from the entrepreneur for organizing street trading in seven locations in Kyiv. The media reported that Trubitsyn fled the scene of the alleged crime by car.
The actions of Trubitsyn were qualified under Article 368, part 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Trubitsyn was released from the pre-trial detention facility on bail, and three days before the court hearing, on May 13, 2023, he fled to Poland driving his Mercedes S600. According to media reports, the departure was authorized on the basis of a letter from Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence. According to the explanation, it was a volunteer activity to provide the Special Operations Forces with «special equipment».
Now Trubitsyn has been placed on the wanted list and the HACC is trying him in absentia. In May 2023, Olena Shuliak, head of the Servant of the People party, announced the suspension of Trubitsyn’s member mandate of the Kyiv City Council. He was also expelled from the faction, and his membership in the party was terminated at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
On 26 March 2025, the HACC approved the plea agreement of one of Trubitsyn's accomplices Dmytro Kovalchuk, deputy director of Kyivska Spadshchyna Municipal Enterprise, for complicity in accepting a UAH 1.39 million bribe. Kovalchuk pleaded guilty, committed to transferring UAH 1.3 million for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and provide testimony in the case. The court sentenced him to six years in prison, along with a three-year ban on holding positions in state power and local self-government. However, he was released from serving his sentence, with a one-year probationary period. The court also ordered the confiscation of two land plots owned by Kovalchuk in the Boryspil District of the Kyiv region.
