In October 2023, journalists revealed the contents of the verdict, which had been kept secret for a long time in one of the most famous corruption cases. This verdict stated that ex-minister and businessman Nikolai Zlochevsky was released from serious charges in connection with a “record bribe”, since his donation was recognized as just a donation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Donat was undoubtedly impressive and important for Ukraine. The former official himself paid 500 million hryvnia. A company controlled by his relatives helped the Defense Forces with another 160.56 million. In total, the case brought the army 855.5 million hryvnia.
“But the court is not a commercial enterprise. Its effectiveness is not measured in terms of money earned.” This is how our text ended about why the verdict against Zlochevsky, despite the obvious financial benefits, may turn out to be a mistake of the anti-corruption system.
And even if we discard the deep ideas and goals of justice, are these amounts commensurate with the figure of Zlochevsky? Was such a punishment meaningful to him?
In search of an answer to this question, journalists examined changes in the politician’s assets. And we found them.
The family of the ex-minister (he long ago transferred his business to his daughters Anna and Karina), against the backdrop of a high-profile corruption case and during the Great War, is expanding its fortune in a new area. They buy worthwhile and attractive real estate in the Ukrainian capital.
The journalists' interlocutor in the development confirmed that the activity of Zlochevsky's daughters was noticed on the market when they were looking at the objects.
It was publicly known about the family’s purchase of the building of the bankrupt Arkada bank, located in the very center of Kyiv. Journalists discovered several more interesting objects.
Only the three purchases mentioned in this text amount to at least about 680 million hryvnia. This amount does not take into account the costs of renovation of buildings. But it is already greater than the donations of the Zlochevsky family, which saved them from a harsh sentence.
This is the second part of the story about how Zlochevsky escaped punishment. It is not about the philosophy of law, but about the practical dimension – the monetary one.
About how the allegedly punished official and his daughters, who hold the assets of the gas giant Burisma, did not stop arranging business either before, during, or after the agreement with the prosecutor in the case of a record bribe.
Journalists sent a request for comment to Zlochevsky. According to the editors, the family has familiarized itself with the questions. We did not receive a response within 5 days.
The territory of the former Arsenal factory is a real island of real estate treasures. Tens of hectares of land and tens of thousands of square meters of buildings in the very center of the capital, which only 15 years ago belonged to the state, were transferred into private hands during 2007–2017 according to a simple scheme.
After resale, this property ended up in the ownership of several well-known capital developers. And with the opening of the popular Kyiv Food Market restaurant here, the once abandoned Soviet heritage began to turn into one of the epicenters of metropolitan life.
Since 2017, law enforcement officers began to investigate how Arsenal was removed from state ownership. But the business cannot boast of the same successes as business development in this territory. We haven’t heard about the investigation for a long time, and the arrest was even lifted from the police stations. In 2019, it was here, at the Food Market, that President Zelensky held his press marathon.
As a food establishment, “Market” is owned by restaurateurs Alex Cooper and Mikhail Beilin. But as real estate, this is a different business; the restaurant only rents it.
The building itself was owned by Alexey Baranov's A Development company for a long time. He is a partner and former manager of the famous Ukrainian businessman Vasily Khmelnitsky.
At the beginning of 2023, Baranov sold the property where the Food Market was located. This is a building of 1.8 thousand square meters and two plots for a total of 0.27 hectares. The land belongs to the state, but it comes “included” with real estate.
All this property was registered under Ukemochi LLC.
The company, named after the Japanese goddess of food, at the time of the transaction was registered in the name of an apparently fake Kiev woman who had no other business. But in the spring of 2023, “Ukemochi” officially became the property of Anna and Karina Zlochevsky. The transaction amount was not publicly announced. A real estate journalist's interlocutor suggests that the price could start at $2,000 per square meter. This is the market price. How much a particular “Food Market” could cost depends on its profitability.
But if we focus on the mentioned 2 thousand, then the entire Food Market should cost the new owners at least 3.6 million dollars.
This is more than half of the infamous “record bribe” that Zlochevsky wanted to pay for a return to a quiet life in Ukraine.
In a 15-minute leisurely walk from the “Food Market” you can meet another new decoration of the Zlochevskys’ business. On Reznitskaya Street in Pechersk, famous for the Office of the Prosecutor General located here.
At Reznitskaya, in particular, decisions were made that allowed Zlochevsky to avoid punishment.
In 2016, the Prosecutor General’s Office under Yuriy Lutsenko turned the case of embezzlement into a lighter one – tax evasion. So Zlochevsky was taken out of the attack, and only the Burisma accountant was sent to trial. Then, by the way, the GPU also boasted about the monetary benefits from the case, because the company compensated for unpaid taxes.
Next door to the prosecutors on Reznitskaya, just a hundred meters away, there is a 7-story brick building from the mid-2000s with high windows, bay windows and long balconies. Before the Revolution of Dignity, this place was known as the Klyuev office.
Brothers Andrei and Sergei Klyuev are fugitive “ex-regionals” diggers. The first under Yanukovych was the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and the head of the Presidential Administration, the second was a people's deputy.
Their business and offices were “based” on Reznitskaya. In particular, the Ukrpodshipnik corporation. During Euromaidan, Reznitskaya was picketed by activists, demanding that the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council be punished for dispersing the protests.
After the change of power in 2014, Ukrpodshipnik went bankrupt. His building in Pechersk was put up for auction. In October 2023, an office center of 3 thousand square meters with “stuffing” of office equipment was sold for 200 million hryvnia.
This is about a third of the money that Zlochevsky and his family paid to get rid of high-profile and lengthy bribery trials.
“The general condition is good... Needs significant investment in redevelopment,” said the announcement of the sale of the building.
Two companies came to fight for the debtor's property. The winner offered just one penny more. This winner is a real no-name.
Allegedly, the financial company “Mont Blanc Finance” is registered to a 28-year-old resident of Krivoy Rog, Vladislava Borzdova.
Borzdova, judging by social networks and the court registry, raises two small children at home, drives a VAZ sedan and personally makes repairs in a simple private house.
Mont Blanc calls itself a team of specialists specializing in lending and factoring operations. But the journalists were unable to reach either the company’s official number or Borzdova’s number.
The woman appears now, or was previously listed, as the founder of several other enterprises. One of them has the contact number of the Zlochevskys’ manager, in the other, the daughters of the ex-minister personally replaced Borzdova in the ownership structure.
Probably, her data is used by the asset management company Bonum Group, which is involved in the Zlochevskys’ business.
Bonum manages 12 funds. Among them are two that officially belong to the Zlochevskys. The phone number of the head of Bonum Group, Alexander Kirimov, which is in the registers, does not work.
Before purchasing the office on Reznitskaya, the Mont Blanc company took part in only one auction - in the fall of 2022, together with the Zlochevskys.
At this time, the ex-minister’s company had its eye on the Arkada Bank building on Institutskaya Street. The Zlochevskys purchased it for 351 million hryvnia - only $600 per square meter. Competitors did not try to beat this offer.
After purchasing an office on Reznitskaya, a company was registered in it under the same name of Borzdova, which should deal with real estate.
For now, the former headquarters of the Klyuevs is empty. The door was opened to the journalists by the security police - the only ones responsible for burning the windows in the building.
Gas Hetman in the Sagaidachny business center
The estate on Sagaidachnogo, 25 was built in the second half of the 19th century. It consists of several houses, an outbuilding and courtyard buildings, half of which are officially recognized as cultural heritage.
Over the course of two hundred years, the estate has changed owners more than once - from merchants to large banks, but the historical name “apartment house” has not lost its meaning. In the 21st century, a business center is located here. And now it is profitable for the Zlochevsky family.
Part of the building, located at the intersection of the street, was put up for auction by the State Export-Import Bank back in 2021. They didn’t sell it on the first try, but after lowering the price, they found a buyer.
These 5.5 thousand square meters of historical buildings in Podil went under the hammer for 334.9 million hryvnia. Among the owners of the investment company Comfort Capital, which owns real estate, are the Zlochevsky sisters, as well as the Poltava Drilling Company, part of the Burizma group.
Having introduced themselves as a potential tenant, the journalists asked the managers of Sagaidachny how long the business center had been operating:
“Two years have already been ours. Before that, it also worked, but simply did not have a name. After the purchase there was a rebranding.”
The new owners modernized the look of the center, launched an official website in 2022, and in 2023 advertising for office rentals in the business center appeared on the Internet.
In 2023, the business of the Zlochevskys themselves began to register under Sagaidachny.
The investment fund “Skyfall” is registered here, which is managed by the above-mentioned “Bonum Group”. Using this fund, in 2023 the Zlochevskys sold one of their assets - river sand mining.
This business was registered in several LLCs, in the ownership structure and contacts of which the Kovalskaya group or its representatives appeared in 2023. Kovalskaya itself officially announced the acquisition of such a business in the summer, without naming the other party to the agreement. The journalists' interlocutor at the market confirmed that we are talking about the purchase of the Zlochevskys' assets.
Also on Sagaidachny, 25 there are offices of the company of Andrei Kuchkov, whom the media call Zlochevsky’s son-in-law. He runs the business on which the ex-minister once built his empire - gas.
One of the companies registered here, Ukrgaztrading, skyrocketed in government contracts in 2023. According to the YouControl system, from September to December alone, it won tenders worth 4.987 billion hryvnia. Before this, I had not received a single government order.
This gas supplier is recorded by Viktor Denisovich. He works in Kuchkov’s companies and has contacts leading to the Burizma group.
Zlochevsky’s own gas business has not gone into oblivion over the years either. In 2023, while the official was negotiating an agreement with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, his empire once again stumbled over a criminal case. But she just stepped over him and moved on.
At the beginning of the year, Zlochevsky’s companies suddenly appeared in a case led by the Bureau of Economic Security and previously concerning a completely different business, tobacco. Detectives suspected his Gazdobycha of non-payment of taxes on an especially large scale, and the above-mentioned Bonum Group of involvement in the legalization of “dirty funds.”
In the spring of 2023, the accounts of Gazdobycha were seized. What is striking is that this happened on March 29th. And the next day, judging by the secret verdict against Zlochevsky, he made his first donation to the Defense Forces.
The ex-minister sent the second transfer on May 10. And already on the 12th the seizure of his gas accounts was canceled.
Later, however, the money in the banks was frozen again. But in the summer - autumn of 2023, the Zlochevskys reissued a number of their special permits for deposits to other companies and changed the formal owners.
Central Gazdobycha was also transferred to a new offshore company, which had not previously been publicly disclosed in the ownership structure of Burisma and was not included in the criminal case. This census took place literally the next day after Zlochevsky finally signed an agreement with the prosecutor.
