Ivanyushchenko arrested in absentia in land case over Stolychnyi market

On October 14, the High Anti-Corruption Court arrested former MP Yuriy Ivanyushchenko in absentia , , the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

reported

Law enforcement agencies traditionally do not name the suspect, but the circumstances of the alleged crime point to him or her.

Ivanyushchenko was served with a notice of suspicion on September 6, along with Kyiv-based developer Vladyslava Molchanova (Stolitsa Group). He is accused of organizing the legalization of property obtained by criminal means, namely nine land plots with a total area of 18 hectares. The case concerns the land of the Stolychnyi agricultural market located on the outskirts of Kyiv near the Teremky metro station.

Since 2012, the land plot of 157.42 hectares has been under a 25-year lease with Stolychnyi Agricultural Market LLC. The plot belonged to the category of residential and public land and was intended for the construction of market infrastructure.

The investigation believes that in the spring of 2021, a corporate conflict arose between Molchanova and Ivaniushchenko for control of the wholesale market, during which the ownership of the land plot was re-registered from the Kyiv-Svyatoshynskyi District State Administration to the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Kyiv Oblast and leased to a company controlled by the developer.

In May of the same year, nine plots of 2 hectares each were separated from it, transferred to private ownership of nine individuals, and subsequently alienated to three legal entities related to the developer under sale and purchase agreements.

According to the NABU, in the process of resolving the conflict, the developer and the former MP signed a memorandum on the joint use of the land, in particular for construction. In September 2021, the trustee of the former MP became one of the beneficiaries of the companies that own the land plots.

In an interview with LIGA.net , Molchanova said that she did not know Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, had never seen him and had not signed any agreements with him.

• Former Party of Regions member Ivaniushchenko fled Ukraine in December 2014. Since the end of May 2023, he has been on the international wanted list. In August 2023, he was arrested in absentia – nine years after he was notified of suspicion in the case, which is now being investigated by the Bureau of Economic Security.
• The first episode of this case concerns money of unspecified origin that Switzerland froze in Ivaniushchenko's bank accounts. In October 2014, they contained 72 million Swiss francs (at the then exchange rate – UAH 649.8 million), which significantly exceeded his legal income.
• The second episode is the so-called Kyoto case, which concerns the possible embezzlement by Karpatybudinvest of money from the State Enterprise Derzekoinvest allocated for the insulation of social facilities in Luhansk region.