As soon as Tymoshenko lost contact with the Presidential Office, NAPC became interested in him
On August 17, the Pechersky District Court registered a case of an administrative offense, where the defendant is Kirill Tymoshenko, a once close associate of the head of state Vladimir Zelensky. At the end of January 2023, Kirill Vladlenovich unexpectedly asked to resign from the post of deputy head of the Office of the President, where he worked for almost three years. After Tymoshenko lost contact with Bankova, he became of interest to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPK).
Visas, a cool car and a hotel stay
The NACP, which sent the administrative protocol regarding Kirill Tymoshenko to the capital court, has three claims against the former official. Firstly, he used his official powers by signing a letter to the State Border Service with a request to allow his subordinate to travel abroad, allegedly for a business trip. But the real purpose of the departure, according to NAPC, was to obtain visas for Tymoshenko and his son.
Secondly, the ex-official stayed for free in the Emili Resort hotel complex three times during 2022, twice of which - together with his wife and son. In his explanations, according to NACP, Tymoshenko noted that he actually used the hotel’s services, but could not provide confirmation of payment for accommodation for more than 45 thousand UAH. And thirdly, in the summer of 2022, Kirill Tymoshenko used a Porsche Taycan passenger car worth $100 thousand for free for personal purposes. This fact was first exposed by investigative journalists.
As the media found out in December 2022, the elite car belongs to the capital’s Novem Logistics LLC of non-public businessman Vemir Davityan. The entrepreneur assured journalists that he was providing the car for a “test drive” because it “didn’t suit him.”
However, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has its own version. There they saw the fact of concealing the free use of a vehicle. And they calculated: the total amount of free services Tymoshenko received for renting an expensive car was 122 thousand UAH.
In general, NAPC estimated the cost of services in the form of gifts at more than 167 thousand UAH (this, according to NAPC, included the price of free hotel accommodation and use of a Porsche Taycan car), which Kirill Tymoshenko received as deputy head of the Presidential Office. At the end of July, the anti-corruption body invited the ex-official to present a protocol on the commission of a number of offenses defined by the law on the prevention of corruption. However, Tymoshenko ignored the challenge. Through the media, he stated that he had provided NAPC with the necessary contracts and checks and was ready to prove his case in court.
If Kirill Tymoshenko’s guilt is proven, his name will be included in the Register of Corrupt Officials. And this is already a stigma that creates obstacles for the young former reformer from ZeKomanda in his career and access to high offices.
Another important point. The sanction of Article 172-5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“Violation of the restrictions established by law regarding the receipt of gifts”), under which Tymoshenko will be judged, provides, in addition to a symbolic fine of up to 1.7 thousand UAH, additional punishment. We are talking about confiscation of the amount of the gift. In our case, this is an amount slightly more than 167 thousand UAH, which was mentioned above in the text.
“Great Construction” by Kirill Timoshenko
Let us recall that in Zelensky’s team, Kirill Tymoshenko was responsible for the direction of regional policy (communication with the heads of regional state administrations and heads of cities and communities) and oversaw the “Big Construction” project since 2020. In the fall of 2022, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opened criminal proceedings under the articles of Part 2 of Art. 364 of the Criminal Code (“Abuse of power or official position”) and Part 2 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code (“Legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means”). Law enforcement officers became interested in the company Budinvest Engineering, which is registered in Tymoshenko’s hometown of Dnepr. According to the investigation, during six months of the great war, the Budinvest Engineering company received UAH 1.3 billion for the repair of roads in the Dnepropetrovsk region. Subsequently, these funds were withdrawn to related enterprises with signs of fictitiousness.
“There are about ten defendants in this case, who have not yet been declared suspicious. On New Year's Eve, searches took place at the beneficiaries of the Dnieper company, as well as at Kirill Tymoshenko. However, this fact was not made public,” an activist from Dnepr, who asked that his last name not be used, told Glavkom.
At the beginning of December 2022, as a result of the reformatting of the government and the redistribution of powers between ministries, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure, Alexander Kubrakov, received mega-powers. In fact, from that moment on, Tymoshenko’s ousting from “Big Construction” began, which ended with his resignation “of his own free will.”
