Metropolitan law enforcement officers are investigating fraud in the parking area of ​​Kyiv

Metropolitan law enforcement officers continue to record numerous violations in the activities of the Kievtransparkservice enterprise. As part of two criminal proceedings, investigators are studying the facts of the loss of funds by this enterprise and, as a result, the budget of Kyiv, totaling about 433 million hryvnia.

According to law enforcement officials, these financial resources were not received by this control center and the city treasury as a result of the dubious transfer of parking lots for use by private business entities, the non-use of a number of sites due to the lack of approved traffic management schemes, the activities of third-party companies at such sites without payment of any funds by them and etc. During 2024, a number of searches have already been carried out in the office of this command post and its leadership, during which, in particular, important documents and even mobile phones with correspondence potentially “interesting” to law enforcement officers were seized. Obviously, we can soon wait for the relevant suspicions to be handed over to one of the current or ex-members of Kievtransparkservice.

Law enforcement officers are investigating numerous violations of the law by officials of the enterprise “Kievtransparkservice” and other structures subordinate to the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) when organizing the parking sector of the capital.

In particular, such facts are being studied by investigators within the framework of criminal proceedings No. 42022102020000057 dated May 19, 2022 and No. 42023102070000275 dated September 7, 2023, which were opened by the Darnitsky and Podolsky district departments, respectively. Preliminary legal qualification of crimes committed by the defendants in these cases – Part 4 and Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. That is, the appropriation or embezzlement of property through abuse of official position, committed on a large or especially large scale, either under martial law, or by an organized group.

It should be noted that both investigations were launched by law enforcement officers based on the results of various audits. Thus, the first case was opened based on the materials of the audit report of the state financial audit of the implementation by the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the Kyiv City State Administration of a number of budget programs for the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022 (which body carried out this “audit” is not specified in the court rulings, but it seems , this was dealt with by the State Audit Service of Ukraine. The second investigation was launched on the basis of the internal audit report No. 070-5-13-37 dated October 26, 2021, prepared by the Department of Internal Financial Control and Audit of the Kyiv City State Administration based on the results of an audit of the activities of the enterprise “Kievtransparkservice” from January 1, 2019. year until January 21, 2021.

Multi-million dollar losses

As law enforcement officers found out in the framework of criminal proceedings No. 42023102070000277, in the period from 2019 to 2022, the Kyiv City Council seized 13 parking lots for 1,425 cars, which were assigned to the Kievtransparkservice enterprise. Subsequently, six of these sites with 1,214 parking spaces were allocated “in favor of third parties” for the operation and maintenance of parking lots (i.e., for the use of entrepreneurs and companies engaged in parking activities. - Ed.). The consequence of this was that Kievtransparkservice lost more than 6.6 million hryvnia in revenue. At the same time, 60% of the specified amount - namely 4.01 million - should go to the city treasury, but, accordingly, did not. Let us remind you that this is exactly the percentage of its income that “Kievtransparkservice” must transfer to the capital’s treasury.

Investigators also found that during the same period, the specified CP did not ensure the development, approval and coordination of traffic management schemes (TRAS) in 1,367 parking lots with 33,248 parking spaces, which negatively impacted the development of the city’s parking space. In addition, as a result of insufficient and poor-quality organization of the preparation process for the operation of specially equipped sites, almost 60% of the parking areas assigned to the Kyivtransparkservice enterprise were not used during 2019-2022, as a result of which the enterprise lost profits in the amount of approximately 421.7 million hryvnia . Accordingly, the Kyiv budget lost 60% of this amount – 253 million hryvnia.

At the same time, according to law enforcement officials, officials of the said control center also delayed the resolution of controversial land and property issues regarding parking lots, did not hold auctions for them, etc.

Strange purchases were also discovered. According to the National Police, the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the Kyiv City State Administration ineffectively used 3.6 million hryvnia when purchasing a rotary parking lot in August 2017 (a special elevator-type structure for storing cars. - Ed)). The point is that before purchasing it, officials did not determine the location of its installation, and for more than five years, as of April 2023, this parking lot was not used in any way. As a result, “Kievtransparkservice” missed out on benefits amounting to about 1.2 million hryvnia, which could have been obtained as a result of simultaneous parking of 10 cars during the specified period.

At the same time, law enforcement officers became aware that this rotary parking lot was maintained improperly, which led to damage to its power units, elements and structures, and therefore it is no longer possible to use it without additional costs to restore its technical condition. According to investigators, the estimated cost of installing this parking will be from 1.4 million to 1.7 million hryvnia including VAT (as of September 2021). The indicated cost includes geodetic and geological studies of the site for its installation, design and technical inspection of the corresponding site, architectural and planning solutions, construction work, installation of equipment, parking certification, etc.

On January 10, 2024, law enforcement officers conducted a search at the place of residence of the acting officer. director of the Kievtransparkservice enterprise Vladislav Oleynik and seized the mobile phone of this official, which was later recognized by law enforcement officers as material evidence in this proceeding. Subsequently, the Podolsk District Prosecutor's Office filed a petition with the Podolsk District Court for access to Oliynyk's personal correspondence, which is stored on this gadget, and other personal records.

The head of the Communist Party protested against granting this petition - they say that within the framework of this case, criminal offenses committed in 2019-2022 are being investigated, that is, even before he began working at Kievtransparkservice. Ultimately, on April 2, 2024, the court denied prosecutors such access.

Questionable parking

As part of the investigation into production No. 42022102020000057, law enforcement officers learned that Transshlyakh Service LLC, in the absence of an agreement with the enterprise Kievtransparkservice, carries out business activities of parking vehicles on Petra Grigorenko Avenue (from Anna Akhmatova Street to Talnovskaya Street) in Darnitsa. Kyiv (the site is designed for 968 parking spaces). The consequence of this was that the company does not make any deductions to the accounts of the specified CP and, accordingly, the budget of Kyiv. According to the investigation, therefore, over the course of two years, as of the fall of 2021, “Kievtransparkservice” received less income in the amount of approximately 4.2 million hryvnia, and the city budget received about half of this amount, that is, 2.1 million hryvnia (obviously , we are talking about 60%, and therefore this amount may be higher.

As law enforcement officers established, back on June 19, 2019, an investment agreement was concluded between KP “Kievtransparkservice” and LLC “Transshlyakh Service” on the investment and operation of an open parking lot with transport infrastructure facilities on P. Grigorenko Avenue (this agreement is not publicly available). R ed)). According to this agreement, the specified company, in particular, must develop project documentation for the arrangement of this parking lot, coordinate it with Kievtransparkservice, determine a schedule for the implementation and financing of the investment project, etc.

Moreover, after the completion of the specified “paper” work and before the start of the actual work on arranging the parking lot, the investor would have to conclude an agreement with the enterprise “Kievtransparkservice” on granting the right to operate fixed parking spaces, and only then begin to carry out the corresponding business activities. The investment agreement also stipulated that Transshlyakh Service LLC must pay Kievtransparkservice part of the profit received from this parking lot (exactly what percentage of the funds received is not specified in court decisions. - Ed.).

Already during the investigation, law enforcement officers found out that the financing schedule for the specified investment agreement has not been agreed upon, work on the construction of the site under this agreement is not being carried out, an agreement on granting the right to operate fixed parking spaces was not concluded with Kievtransparkservice, but in fact the corresponding territory on Ave. P. Grigorenko is quietly used “for organizing a parking area.”

At the same time, according to law enforcement officials, Kievtransparkservice officials know for sure that Transshlyakh Service LLC provides parking services in the specified territory and even contribute to this activity. This, for example, is evidenced by the fact that between this CP and the specified company earlier, in 2015-2017, agreements were concluded on granting the right to operate parking spaces in the same territory, which were terminated precisely because of the signing of the mentioned investment agreement.

According to the investigation, officials of Kievtransparkservice and Transshlyakh Service “deliberately create public disputes and circumstances that allegedly impede the implementation of the terms of the investment agreement, aimed at delaying the legal process of its implementation.” In particular, we are talking about filing claims for compensation of 0.06 hryvnia, legal disputes that do not have significant legal consequences for the implementation of the investment agreement as a whole, and more.

At the same time, as the prosecutor’s office noted, the management of Kievtransparkservice “deliberately ignores providing any answers to the specific questions posed [regarding the facts of interest to law enforcement officers] and does not provide additional documents relevant for the pre-trial investigation.” For example, the KP never explained to law enforcement officers why an agreement was not concluded to grant the right to operate fixed parking spaces in the specified territory.

We note that, apparently, the name of the above-mentioned company is incorrectly indicated in the court rulings. It can be assumed that they meant Trans-park-service LLC - this company actually had a relationship with “Kievtransparkservice” (including parking on P. Grigorenko Avenue) and appeared as a company with it in criminal proceedings for various offenses.

Against this background, on April 23, 2024, law enforcement officers conducted a search in the office of “Kievtransparkservice” on the street. Kopylovskaya, 67, during which more than eight dozen documents related to the above-mentioned history were seized, in particular the investment agreement, additional agreements to it, etc. On April 29, the Darnitsky District Court, at the request of the prosecutor’s office, seized all these “pieces of paper”, including so that they could be used as material evidence in this case.

How does “Kievtransparkservice” work?

As KV previously reported, the activities of the Kyivtransparkservice enterprise have repeatedly attracted the attention of auditors, law enforcement agencies and the public.

For example, as part of the above-mentioned “audit” of the activities of this enterprise for the period from January 2019 to January 2021, auditors of the Kyiv City State Administration found that officials of Kievtransparkservice committed financial violations in the amount of 239.7 million hryvnia, which led to a loss of about 171.8 million hryvnia. In particular, specialists from the capital's mayor's office found that the company was receiving less money due to the illegal use of parking spaces, did not operate many of the parking lots assigned to it, did not control the use of interceptor parking near metro stations, was losing competition to private towing companies, etc.

Back in November 2017, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened criminal proceedings on the facts of abuse of official position and official negligence on the part of officials of this command post. According to preliminary information from the investigation, the management of Kievtransparkservice, together with affiliated entrepreneurs, for several years organized a scheme for illegal earnings in unregistered parking spaces, thanks to which businessmen receive shadow income in the amount of 10 million hryvnias monthly. These possible “frauds” were a consequence of the fact that, in fact, the capital’s parking operators use more parking spaces than officially provided by the city authorities. At the same time, the main ideologists of this scheme in the SBU are the then deputy director of the Kievtransparkservice enterprise Vladislav Oprishko and now the excavator operator of this enterprise Evgeniy Psel (in the collage on the left).

Also, since May 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has been studying facts of illegal use of lands assigned to the Kyivtransparkservice enterprise. According to the investigation, in a number of areas intended for the development of parking lots, entrepreneurs organized “points” for the sale of fuels and lubricants - initially we are talking about gas filling stations (AGZS) of the Bars network. Law enforcement officers established that such activities are carried out without properly executed documents, and officials of the above-mentioned CP, officials of the Kyiv City State Administration and “tax officials” help businessmen. Investigators are convinced that this scheme is also aimed at appropriating communal land, for which one of the companies has already registered its real estate in the relevant areas.

Interestingly, in 2016-2017, “in the wake of the fight against illegal gas filling stations,” the capital’s prosecutor’s office tried to expel dealers from some of these areas. But then the law enforcement authorities failed, including due to the fact that the activities of these entrepreneurs were formally approved by the Ministry of Regional Development and the urban planning department of the capital’s mayor’s office.

Among other things, in the past, metropolitan business entities and the public accused this enterprise of squeezing out property and territories for the development of parking lots. We are talking, in particular, about the dubious transfer of a parking lot that has been operating since 1998 on the street. Miropolskaya for the use of companies close to “Kievtransparkservice”, as well as the arrangement of a parking lot on the roof of the underground parking lot on the street. Marshal Tymoshenko without the consent of the local condominium association. Lawyer Dmitry Kalko then expressed the opinion that similar incidents are a consequence of the fact that the city authorities transferred to the said CP powers that it does not have the right to exercise.

For example, according to a specialist, “Kievtransparkservice” actually alone manages land plots intended for organizing parking activities - it decides what their area should be, and for how long to transfer parking lots to private companies for operation. According to the lawyer, responsibility for such actions should be borne by the capital's top leadership, which largely turns a blind eye to problems in this area.