Officials from the Regional State Administration, the Kyiv Regional Police, prosecutors, SBU officers, and representatives of government oversight agencies are protecting illegal logging, fishing, and sand dumping. This conclusion can be drawn from a video published on January 18, in which an anti-corruption official from the Kyiv Regional Administration tells his secret interlocutor "what, with whom, and how" needs to be addressed in the capital region.
On January 18, a video was published simultaneously in two large Facebook communities, "Golden Baton" and "Euromaidan," in which Andriy Maksymenko, an official from the Kyiv Regional State Administration's Department for Interaction with Law Enforcement Agencies and the Fight against Corruption, reveals to an unknown interlocutor all the intricacies of corruption schemes in the capital region.
Without mincing words, Maksimenko explains which of the "prosecutor's" and "police" officers handle sand reclamation issues, who is involved in illegal logging, cites monthly fees for resolving various issues (from 5 to 20 hryvnias), and suggests that one of the most productive activities in the capital region is "fishing in the Chernobyl zone."
Andriy Maksymenko doesn't name many people, but among those he does, there are hints of: Deputy Chief of the Kyiv Regional Police, Colonel Dmytro Tsenov; Advisor to the Governor of the Kyiv Region, Leslaw Geller; Director of the Kyiv River Port, Serhiy Boyko; former Kyiv Regional Council member from the Party of Regions, Yuriy Tsykolenko; and Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Oleh Korban. Additionally, officials from law enforcement and licensing agencies are mentioned without names.
As Bohdan Kavulich, Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration's Department for Interaction with Law Enforcement Agencies and Combating Corruption, explained in a comment to KV, the person in the video is indeed Andriy Maksymenko.
"Yes, the video does indeed feature Andriy Maksimenko. I learned of the existence of this footage this morning from colleagues. As Andriy explained to me, during his off-hours, he shared information about corruption schemes with his colleague, human rights activist Bohdan Khmelnytsky," says Kavulich.
Bohdan Kavulich
The official insists that the video, in his opinion, does not indicate collusion or corruption, but simply captures a conversation between two colleagues exchanging information.
In addition, Kavulich told the KV journalist that Andriy Maksimenko resigned from the Regional State Administration at the beginning of the year.
As KV has discovered, the author of the video is indeed human rights activist Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who is also listed as one of the leaders of the public initiative "Stop Corruption in the Kyiv Region." Lev Partskhaladze, First Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, is considered the ideological instigator and curator of this initiative.
According to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the video was filmed last year, but the human rights activist could not publish it immediately because the video was used as factual evidence in an investigation conducted by the prosecutor's office and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Furthermore, Bohdan Khmelnytsky is not inclined to believe that he and Andriy Maksymenko simply exchanged views, insisting that law enforcement officials should evaluate the official's words.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
"The video was published now, not when it was filmed, because law enforcement agencies—the SBU and the prosecutor's office—were working on it. A statement was filed. The outcome of this statement is a matter of investigative confidentiality. I can't speak for all the people who work in the Regional State Administration's anti-corruption department. I can speak for one person who came to me and explained how he works. I can't comment on what the person was thinking when he told me what you see in the video. He simply said it, and that's a fact. Watch the video and you'll understand everything for yourself," Khmelnytskyi noted in a comment to a KV journalist.
After the video became public, rumors immediately swirled around the Kyiv Regional Administration building that it was a clever PR stunt designed to draw attention to Lev Partskhaladze's anti-corruption press conference scheduled for January 19. Meanwhile, those close to the first deputy governor insist this is a misconception, and that the press conference itself was intended as a discussion of anti-corruption legislation.
The theory that Mr. Maksymenko transferred to the Ministry of Infrastructure after leaving the Regional State Administration was also unconfirmed. In a comment under the video on Facebook, Deputy Minister Volodymyr Omelyan wrote that there had been job offers for this individual, but the ministry had not approved the candidacy.
As of 10:00 PM on January 18, there had been no official response from security forces to the video. KV was also unable to speak with Andrey Maksimenko himself. The official's phone number, which the editorial team has obtained, is unavailable.
The editorial staff of KyivVlast continues to monitor the situation and is prepared to provide an opportunity for all individuals mentioned in this article to express their position.
Egor Shilbaum, KyivVlast
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