Near Odessa, a gang of prosecutors, in league with local criminals, is seizing resort properties from the state.
Remember the dramatic events that unfolded in Odesa this past May? The clashes between Ukrainian patriots and pro-Russian separatists, the horrific fire at the Trade Union Building, dozens of casualties... And what were Odesa's valiant law enforcement officers doing during that time? Perhaps they were catching saboteurs? Yes, many did just that—faithfully serving Ukraine. But not all. Some, under the cover of the situation, continued doing what they do best—squeezing out state property. And the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi inter-district prosecutor, Oleh Kryvovid, is leading the charge through his proxies. And they clearly couldn't care less about lustration.
So, there's a resort near Odessa called Zatoka. You wouldn't call it fashionable. It doesn't have all-inclusive facilities like in Turkey or fancy discos like in Odessa itself. But it does have beautiful nature and wonderful sandy beaches washed by the Black Sea and the Dniester Estuary. You'll agree, given the annexation of Crimea, it's hard to overestimate the tourist potential of this place.
And who would have doubted that there would be those eager for this tasty morsel. And in uniform, at that. The scheme has long been well-known: we forge a court decision, transfer the property to a front man, and then take it for ourselves.
Now, let's take a closer look. Earlier this year, an enterprising Odessa resident and parishioner of the local White Brotherhood sectarian church named Alexander Katz founded a private company with the unpretentious name "Topaz Recreation Center." On March 21, 2014, his firm registered ownership of a property complex of the same name, located in Zatoka. The recreation center itself, while not exactly a luxury, is still state-owned. But the Zatoka Village Council, turning a blind eye to the situation, quickly decided that same day to lease half a hectare of the precious land beneath Topaz to the savvy businessman.
And already in mid-May, young men of "athletic appearance" began visiting the director of the state health resort, Vasily Burets. Presumably, they were completely by accident, while simultaneously vandalizing the property of what was, we should note, a state institution. Then, also by accident, several fires broke out at the facility.
After yet another such visit, Vasily Nikolaevich literally stunned me with news. It turns out that, according to a forged ruling by the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi court, the recreation center, worth over 5 million hryvnias, has not been a state institution for almost 10 years, but rather the property of 74-year-old pensioner Irina Aleksandrivna Leshchuk, who has never owned any business. And just recently, the old woman donated this property to a private company. What kind of company is this? It's Oleksandr Katz's new firm.
The question arises: why didn't the prosecutor's office respond to such a blatant "extortion"? And here's the thing! Because, in fact, the prosecutors were the ones leading and organizing it.
The perpetrators of the simple scheme to seize state property were Grandma Leshchuk's great-nephew and Stanislav Klimenko, the prosecutor of the Belgorod-Dnistrovsk prosecutor's office. He, without batting an eye, carried out the orders of his boss, Interdistrict Prosecutor Oleh Kryvovid, and helped to obtain all the documents for the old woman.
And then things took off. The "Lviv" recreation center, owned by the Lviv City Council, was put on the waiting list for the takeover. But then, instead of the old woman, a certain unemployed resident of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsk, Elena Leusenko, showed up.
Like the pensioner, this woman became the owner of the resort through a forged court order. And, most interestingly, on March 21, 2014, the very day that Odessa resident Katz became the owner of Topaz, Leusenko registered ownership of all the property of the Lviv recreation center, and the village council allocated her the land plot under it.
While some "titushki" were destroying the Topaz base, others, under Leusenko's name and with hastily concocted documents, arrived to "cleanse" the Lviv resort of its previous owners. The former local UBOP officer, Nikolai Yurchenko, orchestrated this takeover.
And this remarkable personality serving the raiders deserves more detail.
As it turns out, Yurchenko himself managed to acquire ownership of one of the recreation centers in Zatoka, namely the "Geolog" base, which belongs to the Ukrainian State Geological Prospecting Institute.
According to documents, a former police officer won the property from local resident Elena Subot. Perhaps Elena Vitalievna would have told us how the state property came into her hands, had she not died long before these events, back in 2004.
Where are the law enforcement officers?
It's a small world, as we know. Kryvovid's right-hand man, his deputy, Vladimir Frantsevich, met Nikolai Yurchenko while still studying at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Institute. Although they later served in different agencies, they maintained a friendship. It's not hard to guess that it was Frantsevich who helped Yurchenko acquire such a lucrative property, and later also provided protection for the rogue in all his other shady dealings.
It must be said that local activists have long been fed up with former UBOP officer Yurchenko. As a police officer, he fought organized crime so "mercilessly" that he fell under the influence of a local crime boss and the largest drug dealer in the Odessa region, nicknamed Abdul.
In the photo: Yurchenko, second from the left, hugs the Ilyichevsk overseer Abdula.
However, it should be noted that Abdula has a more influential "roof" in the drug trade than the former policeman. This is the head of the Illichivsk branch of the SBU, Alexey Matsulevich, who steadily supplements the family budget with drug trafficking income and his fleet of cars with the latest Japanese models.
But let's return to our hero. Having become the owner of the "Geolog" base, Yurchenko sent local "titushki" there and even didn't hesitate to lead them personally. This is how he got caught, first on camera by curious bystanders, and then as a suspect in a criminal case.
However, warned by influential accomplices in the prosecutor's office, our schemer went on the run. It was only thanks to the public outcry and reaction that law enforcement was forced to conduct a special operation and "lock up" their former colleague.
It must be said that Yurchenko's arrest seriously upset Krivovid, who immediately tried to get his accomplice out of custody. But he didn't have time. Skumbrievich let him down! He couldn't withstand the confrontation and "cracked," revealing Krivovid's shady dealings to investigators. Now he's sitting in solitary confinement, where, as the justice system intended, his aggrieved accomplices are supposedly unable to reach him.
However, it turned out that just recently all criminal cases involving the seizure of recreation centers had been transferred to the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office for "effective" investigation. It seemed all was well, that regional prosecutor Andriy Andreyevich Priz would soon take on Kryvovid and his ilk, and justice would prevail. But it was not to be.
Using all his connections in the regional prosecutor's office, Kryvovid ensured that his longtime colleague and protégé, Kateryna Zhlobchuk, would lead the Yurchenko investigation. According to our information, she is a close relative of the secretary of the head of the Belgorod-Dniprovsky City District Court, where official forgery is so skillfully carried out. She was appointed to this position by the head of the regional prosecutor's office, Alexander Golbart, a longtime friend of Kryvovid.
Now there is no longer any certainty that these cases will not become hopeless cold cases.
We note that after these facts were partially disclosed, we received information from local activists about the seizure of at least five more coastal bases in Zatoka, which we will report on shortly.
Nevertheless, it's already possible to name all the participants in the corporate raiding in the Odessa hinterland. These include Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Interdistrict Prosecutor Oleh Kryvovid, his deputy Volodymyr Frantsevich, and their subordinates Stanislav Klymenko, Oleksandr Samborskyi, and Artem Yevglevskyi. Add to these "comrades" the head of the village council's land commission, Bohdan Shevchuk, who is also one of the "leaders" of the "White Brotherhood" sect, and the village council secretary, Serhiy Kulik, whose name is linked to dozens of scams involving the transfer of land from state ownership.
Overall, the picture is ugly. While heroic ATO participants are practically forced to go to court to prove their right to the few hundred square meters promised by the state, behind their backs, crooked officials are stealing hectares of priceless land from the same state with impunity.
Andrey Streltsov for CRIME.in.UA
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