The distribution of land in the capital is becoming increasingly widespread. At one of the sessions of the Kyiv City Council, they wanted to make a decision to immediately lease 66 hectares of land to a company associated with the son of ex-mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, Stepan. The company “Kievrybkhoz” (Kiivrybgosp), in which Stepan Chernovetsky owns 24.7%, tried for the second time to renew the lease of a large plot of land on the banks of the Dnieper.
Moreover, in addition to the area of the plot and location on the banks of the Dnieper, this land is also located next to the road to the elite metropolitan village of Koncha-Zaspa.
Although, according to the publication, deputies of the Kiev City Council have so far refused to consider this issue, if it is nevertheless possible to “push through” it, the capital could receive either a new residential area or hundreds of millions of hryvnia in land tax debt. Why can this happen, and who else “shares” from the future gigantic operation worth at least 1.6 billion UAH.
From father to beloved son. How it all began
According to the draft decision of the Kiev City Council, which they wanted to submit to the next session, the land plot with cadastral number 8000000000:90:116:0060 and an area of 66.14 hectares was already rented by PJSC “Kievrybgosp” in 2008. Then the decision to lease was made for 15 years and such a generous gift to the company was made by the then mayor and chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Leonid Chernovetsky.
The decision to transfer such a large plot of land could be explained by the fact that one of the owners of the company is the son of the then mayor of the capital, Stepan Chernovetsky. According to the analytical service YouControl, it owns the largest stake in PrJSC Kyivrybgosp - 24.7% through Valprim Asset Management Company LLC.
However, as the end of the lease approached, the new authorities in Kyiv opposed the lease of PrJSC “Kievrybgosp” of such a tasty and large piece of land located on Promyshlennaya Street, 4 near the Dnieper.
Thus, on May 3, 2023, 20 days before the end of the 15-year land lease period, a draft decision “On the refusal of PrJSC Kyivrybgosp to renew the lease agreement” was registered in the Kyiv City Council. And it must be said that the KSCA had very significant reasons for not renewing the contract with Stepan Chernovetsky’s company - a rent debt of 91.2 million UAH.
Judicial cases - Stepan Chernovetsky does not owe anyone
In 2021, the Kyiv City State Administration began a legal battle with PrJSC Kyivrybgosp due to the latter’s debt in rent for these same 66 hectares of land in the amount of UAH 91.2 million. But already in the first instance - the Economic Court of Kyiv, the mayor's office encountered problems when the servants of Themis did not accept the claim, noticing a number of violations in it.
After eliminating the shortcomings, the claim was accepted, but the Kyiv City State Administration did not help - and the Economic Court of Kyiv and the Northern Economic Court of Appeal came to the conclusion that PJSC Kyivrybgosp did not owe anything.
The Kyiv City State Administration filed a cassation appeal with the Economic Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, but on January 31, 2022, it also decided to leave the claim of the capital authorities without consideration. The reason for this was surprising - for some reason the Kyiv City State Administration could not prove that they paid 1 million 589 thousand hryvnia in court fees for considering the cassation appeal.
80 million hryvnia per year – rental price for 66 hectares of land
But let’s return to PrJSC “Kievrybgosp” and the 66 hectares that the company is trying to rent. According to the draft decision of the Kyiv City Council dated May 3, 2024, the standard monetary valuation of land plot No. 8000000000:90:116:0060 is almost 1 billion 594 million UAH, and the proposed annual rent is 79 million 737 thousand UAH or 5% of its price .
As it is easy to calculate, for a 5-year lease of 66 hectares of land, PrJSC “Kievrybgosp” will have to pay about 398.5 million UAH to the city budget, that is, 4 times more than, according to the Kyiv City State Administration, it should according to the results of the last 15-year lease.
The story with the courts may raise the question: will the city budget receive these 400 million hryvnia, or will the lawyers of the Kyiv City State Administration again have to go to court trying to recover the debt, and the authorities will again not find 1.6 million hryvnia to pay for the cassation appeal to the Supreme Court.
And, surprisingly, the city may well receive this amount from PrJSC “Kievrybgosp”, but only under one condition - if at least part of these 66 hectares of land is built up with residential buildings. There is no other way to “recoup” the 80 million UAH annual rent for such a plot of land.
Residential complex Svitlo Park-2 or why does Stepan Chernovetsky need 66 hectares of land?
Despite the ongoing war, land and housing in the capital continue to remain in price, and sometimes the cost also increases due to the influx of immigrants. A little north of land plot No. 8000000000:90:116:0060 there is the Svitlo Park residential complex of 23 residential buildings from 10 to 26 floors with 7,485 apartments.
According to the capital's real estate websites, some of these houses have already been put into operation, and apartments in them are actively being sold at prices ranging from $1,000 per square meter or from 40,450 to 64,000 hryvnia per “square.”
According to official data, the land under all 23 houses of the Svitlo Park residential complex is rented by Equilibrium Trade LLC, divided between three owners - 45% each belong to Oleg Kozak and Dmitry Bondar. The remaining 10% belongs to Valprim Asset Management Company LLC, the same one that owns 24% of Kyivrybgosp PrJSC and belongs to Stepan Chernovetsky.
Actually, the same YouControl directly refers “Equilibrium Trade” to “Chernovetsky Investment Group” of Stepan Chernovetsky. And the company received the land for the future Svitlo Park by decision of the Kiev City Council in December 2007, all during the same period when Leonid Chernovetsky was the mayor of the capital. And for the media, Stepan Chernovetsky’s involvement in the implementation of the Svitlo Park residential complex project under the brand of the developer Futura Hara has long been no secret.
Having land for the Svitlo Park residential complex and another 66 hectares of land plot No. 8000000000:90:116:0060, Stepan Chernovetsky can build an entire mini-city of dozens of residential high-rises. Thus, the construction of 1 house requires approximately 0.5 hectares, so on the land, if it is transferred for rent, the son of the ex-mayor of the capital, in theory, will be able to build up to 120 houses.
True, on the way to this there may be an obstacle in the form of the purpose of the land - “for the construction and maintenance of market infrastructure.” However, Stepan Chernovetsky often builds houses in the capital without any permits at all and without looking at their purpose.
For example, in the area of the Solomensky Landscape Park, Chernovetsky Jr., together with the son of another ex-mayor of Kyiv, Alexander Omelchenko, are building 3 residential buildings instead of market buildings and infrastructure. Because of such construction, the Solomensky Landscape Park has already suffered, and the prosecutor's office has opened criminal proceedings for arbitrariness. Telegraph told more about this development here.
But still, 66 hectares of capital land and a considerable number of houses on them is too large a piece that requires considerable investment, and therefore Stepan Chernovetsky in PJSC “Kievrybgosp” has enough partners.
Vadim Stolar, Denis Bass and connections in the Russian Federation
It must be said that the list of co-owners of PJSC “Kievrybgosp” is extremely colorful, but they all have one thing in common - they are all, to one degree or another, connected with the Russian Federation. Thus, the main co-owners of the company are:
- Valprim Asset Management Company LLC (24.7%);
- closed investment fund Urban, Asset Management Company Capital Investment System LLC, Inter Gas LLC (all own 19.76%);
- closed investment fund “Stream Invest” (9.88%).
Thus, according to YouControl, LLC “Asset Management Company “Capital Investment System” (owns 19.76% of PJSC “Kievrybgosp”) is part of the “Bass family group”. We are talking about Denis Bass, the former first deputy of Leonid Chernovetsky. In 2010, Bass quit and moved to Russia. There he became the head of the Intourist company and started his own construction business.
In the Russian Federation, Denis Bass owns the company “St Michael”, which he controls through LLC “St. Michael Invest” (100% owned by him personally). Also in 2023, he managed to get into a scandal in Russia - buyers complained about prices and living conditions in the elite residential complex “Sorge-9” in Moscow, which was built by the Bass company.
The other 19.76 PJSC Kievrybgosp is owned by Inter Gas LLC - according to official data, the company is 100% owned by the offshore company Noverta Limited, registered in the Seychelles. According to activist Vladimir Bondarenko, in fact the company belongs to one of the capital’s largest developers, Vagif Aliyev. However, this connection could not be officially confirmed.
The latter was involved in a scandal involving the destruction of an architectural monument, and is also suspected of having Russian citizenship, tax evasion, and money laundering, which is why his property in the form of a large metropolitan shopping center, Lavina Mall, was seized.
Finally, another 9.88% belongs to the closed investment fund Stream Invest, which is officially part of Sergei Turchinov’s real estate business, mainly through the Phoenix investment fund. He is also a co-owner of the law firm “Turchinov and Partners”. At the same time, UNIAN claims that Turchynov is connected with the People's Deputy of Ukraine from the now banned Opposition for Life, Vadim Stolar. As Telegraph wrote, he is under the attention of law enforcement officers, who suspect him of laundering money for people’s deputies Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak, suspected of treason.
“Vadim Stolar has no relation to PJSC Kyivrybgospz, JSC ZNIKIF Stream Invest and ENSO, which can be verified through YouControl, OpenDataBot or similar tools. Also, these companies are not listed in the e-declarations that Vadim Stolar submits, and in which you can see all the companies in which he is the founder or beneficial owner,” the press service of the People’s Deputy of Ukraine commented to Telegraph.
However, land battles are taking place not only in the capital; it is no less hot in the Kyiv region. Thus, 19 hectares of land in the Fedosievskaya community of the Kiev region can be obtained by the brother of the wife of the second president of Ukraine, Yuriy Tumanov, who can build an elite cottage community there.
