On October 6, 2026, the NABU and SAPO sent to court the case of a criminal organization that included Kyiv City Council members and Kyiv City State Administration officials. They are accused of involvement in a scheme to illegally privatize land in the capital for development.

The scheme was exposed in February 2025 as part of Clean City Operation. According to investigators, the defendants used the so-called “toilet scheme”: they registered rudimentary structures on land plots to obtain the land without competitive bidding, supposedly to service those structures.

As a result, land in the city center worth UAH 11.6 million was likely stolen. In total, the defendants planned to take possession of Kyiv land worth more than UAH 70 million, but the NABU and SAPO managed to prevent the seizure of the land plots.

The investigation also uncovered an attempted land grab: a private company was being artificially driven to close so that its plot could be taken for development. Investigators also documented an offer of a $100,000 bribe to a Kyiv City Council member for her assistance to the criminal organization.

Nine people are charged in the case, likely including:

• Denys Komarnytskyi — head of the criminal organization, former co-chair of the Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc faction in the Kyiv City Council. According to investigators, he was the one who controlled land and budget decisions and the appointment and dismissal of KCSA and KCC officials. Komarnytskyi has been declared wanted;
• Petro Olenych and Oleksandr Spasybko — former deputy heads of the KCSA;
• Mykhailo Terentiev — chair of the KCC Standing Committee on Architecture, Urban Planning, and Land Relations;
• Olena Marchenko — a member of that committee;
• Roman Bliumin — Spasybko's confidant;
• Oleksii Mushta — former deputy director of Kyivblahoustrii;
• two other individuals.

The defendants' actions have been classified under Articles 255(2) and 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The pre-trial investigation was completed in January 2026. The case has now been sent to the HACC, which will soon schedule a preparatory hearing.

Three defendants in the case have already been convicted. They are likely Nataliia Lebiedieva, Yurii Leonov, and Vitalii Bilous, who entered into plea agreements. The verdicts based on these agreements are currently sealed.