Truly strange appointments are taking place within the walls of the Odessa Regional State (Military) Administration.
As it became known, a certain Kharlov Alexander Alexandrovich became the deputy head of the OBA Oleg Kiper. The representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnichuk, announced this on August 19 in his Telegram channel. Odessa has never known a more scandalous appointment.
I wonder what guided the central authorities of our country when they approved the appointment of Kharlov to such a responsible position, even during the war? The whole point is that this character should not be sitting in the chair of the deputy of the Odessa Police Department, but has been behind bars for a long time.
The thing is that on August 20, 2014, the then first deputy prosecutor of the Pechersky district of Kyiv, Alexander Kharlov, organized a daring robbery of the Graff jewelry store. On that ill-fated day, prosecutors stole 2.5 million euros in gold and diamonds from the store. And the most interesting thing is that after the robbery, Kharlov not only did not receive suspicion of committing a criminal offense, he was promoted, successfully working in the prosecutor’s office until December 2019.
After his dismissal, he began practicing as a lawyer. And already at the beginning of 2022, he tried to sit in the chair of the head of the Kyiv department of the Bureau of Economic Security. We wrote about this then. But either common sense or a full-scale Russian invasion thwarted his plans. And now, the criminal Kharlov is in the chair of the deputy head of the Odessa OVA. What is significant in this situation is that he received this appointment exactly nine years later, after he committed a robbery of a jewelry store. Let us remind you that the robbery occurred on August 20, and information about his today’s appointment was announced by Taras Melnichuk on August 19. Such a gift for yourself on the anniversary of the Graffa robbery.
Don’t you think, gentlemen from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, that this appointment is not only a spit in the face of our President, who travels all over the world and knocks out weapons for the defense of our country, but also an outright spit in the face of the entire Ukrainian people? Let us remind you that there is a war in our country, and you are appointing the most inveterate scoundrels and criminals to key positions.
“Golden” prosecutor Alexander Kharlov: when will the organizer of the robbery of the Graff jewelry store be brought to criminal responsibility?
In the summer of 2014, 2.5 million euros in gold and diamonds were stolen from the Graff jewelry store in Kyiv. This crime caused a wide public outcry, since its organizers were employees of the Pechersk prosecutor's office of the capital. Based on the theft of jewelry, embezzlement of property, forgery, abuse of power and abuse of power, three criminal cases were opened against employees of the Pechersky District Prosecutor's Office who carried out “investigative actions” in fabricated criminal proceedings, which were closed shortly after the search for lack of evidence of a crime.
Absolutely all employees of the prosecutor's office of the Pechersky district of Kyiv who were involved in the robbery of the jewelry store received suspicions of committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code (theft) and Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code. But to this day, none of them have suffered real punishment for the crime they committed. Moreover, according to the decision of the Kyiv Economic Court, the owners of the Graff jewelry store will receive 25 million hryvnia compensation from the state budget of our country. Will citizens of Ukraine pay for the crime committed by prosecutors?
One of the main roles in the “robbery of the century” was played by the then first deputy prosecutor of the Pechersky district of Kyiv, Alexander Kharlov, at whose request the Kyiv prosecutor signed a search warrant. Later, apparently for “special services” to the state, Kharlov was promoted and received the position of head of the supervision department in criminal proceedings of the Kiev prosecutor’s office. And only before the New Year, in December 2019, Kharlov wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will, following his superiors. This fact is confirmed by his declaration, which was published on the NAZK website with the note “before dismissal.”
It turns out that for almost 6 years after the robbery of a jewelry store organized by Kharlov, he calmly and quite successfully, according to his declaration, occupied high positions in the prosecutor's office, instead of suffering the punishment he deserved for the crime he committed. As the Criminal Code of Ukraine states, theft committed on an especially large scale or by an organized group is punishable by imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with confiscation of property. And Kharlov has something to confiscate; it’s not for nothing that he robbed a jewelry store.
The injured party repeatedly appealed to Yuriy Lutsenko, who at that time held the post of Prosecutor General, with a demand to conduct an objective investigation into the daring and cynical robbery of a jewelry store by employees of the Pechersky District Prosecutor's Office. But they never received any reaction from the Prosecutor General, and the criminals in uniform remained at the power trough. And only after the change of power there was hope that ex-prosecutor Alexander Aleksandrovich Kharlov and his organized crime group would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the legislation of our country and would receive a well-deserved punishment. I would like to believe that this publication will not go unnoticed by the current Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Ryaboshapka, who tirelessly talks about reforms in the prosecutor’s office. We, for our part, suggest that the Prosecutor General familiarize himself with two videos and the text of an article that was published a year after the robbery of a jewelry store on the pages of the website of one of the authoritative publications of Ukraine, with the names of all law enforcement officers involved.
Law enforcement officers suspected of robbing a jewelry store in Kyiv during a search have not yet been punished
The case of the robbery of the Graff jewelry store during a search by law enforcement officers has not yet been investigated. The Kiev prosecutor's office is inactive: no investigative or covert actions are being carried out, so the stolen items have not yet been found. Also, the soldiers of the “Falcon” special forces unit, who are suspected of involvement in the robbery, are not brought to justice.
Our publication recalls that on August 20, 2014, in the “Graff” store, as well as in premises unrelated to the store, employees of the prosecutor’s office, the police of the Pechersky district of Kiev, and soldiers of the “Falcon” special unit conducted an illegal search, during which money was stolen, watches, jewelry for a total amount exceeding 2.5 million euros. This “search” was recorded by CCTV cameras.
The then Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema made a public apology to the store owner, but threats poured in from the participants in the search!
On August 25, 2014, a criminal case was opened on suspicion of employees of the prosecutor's office of the Pechersky district of Kiev Kozlov P.B., Savchuk V.V., employees of the Pechersky district police department Zabugi V.V., Zhdanov O.M., Artsyukh R.M. , Kobernik R.V., Tsegelnik V.I. in committing a robbery. Kozlov and Zabuga were arrested, but not for long - their bail amounts were reduced and they were released. The same story happened with suspects Artsyukh and Kobernik. Former policeman Tsegelnik, having only received suspicion, immediately went to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The stars of the video - fake witness Vladimir Filonenko, who skillfully hid diamonds in his underpants, former employee of the Pechersk regional police department Maria Vasilyeva, who meticulously selected her watches and jewelry, as well as her colleague Vitko Oleg, disappeared. Colleagues from law enforcement agencies could not find them for a year. The reason for this is known only to the prosecutor’s office investigator Viktor Avdeev, who led the case.
Also, only he can explain why witnesses and suspects were not questioned, examinations were not carried out, and for what purpose he methodically ruined the case. It can be assumed that in this way he tried to save the suspects from punishment. By the way, he previously knew many of them, and was friends with some on social networks on the Internet.
During the investigation, it turned out that back in May 2014, Kozlov, within 3 days, falsified a case against the “Graff” store, in which a group of unidentified persons allegedly sold counterfeit goods, including those using radioactive raw materials. On this basis, signed by Judge Ekaterina Sereda, Kozlov receives permission to search.
As a result, the case “about counterfeit watches” was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti, but no one began to figure out who needed the search and why. This is not surprising, because Kozlov’s patrons—the then prosecutor of the Pechersky district Oleg Vasiliev and his deputy Alexander Kharlov, who gave Kozlov instructions regarding the search—not only were not involved in the case, but were promoted. Now they occupy senior positions in the Kiev prosecutor's office. Both the then prosecutor of the capital, Sergei Yuldashev, and the top police officials of the Pechersky district: V.V. Bondarenko, D.A. Litvin got away unscathed. (who provided his pocket witness Filonenko), Kravchenko R.M. - all of them are involved in hiding the loot.
“The Kiev prosecutor’s office is inactive: no investigative or covert actions are being carried out, so the stolen items have not yet been found. Also, the fighters of the “Falcon” special forces are not held accountable. But here’s a completely absurd fact: policeman R.V. Kobernik, who received suspicion and was in jail, has not yet been dismissed from the authorities (?!),” the publication emphasizes.
The result of a year-long investigation: the loot was not found, all suspects are at large, the trial is constantly postponed. Released, Pavel Kozlov and his patrons - O. Vasilev, A. Kharlov, S. Yuldashev, having influential connections, are putting pressure on the investigation, trying to divert attention from the crimes they committed, despite the fact that there is still at least 10 statements from victims at the hands of P.B. Kozlov.
“Thus, it turns out that the entire fight against corruption, lustration, reforms of law enforcement agencies is just a fiction: the real criminals still sit securely in their offices and do everything to maintain a comfortable chair. If this powerful criminal group in law enforcement agencies is not punished, what kind of reforms can we even talk about?! The final disclosure of the robbery of the Graff store, and then the punishment of all those responsible for the crime can and should become a turning point for the entire country!” the article says.
PS By the way, Kharlov is not one of those prosecutors who can sit without a “feeder” for a long time, which means that he will soon emerge in a new, more “fat” position. Or will he sit down? We will find out the answer to this question in the very near future.
