One of the most high-profile corruption scandals in recent years has erupted around the Perzhansky beryllium deposit in Zhytomyr Oblast. It involves not only the illegal extraction of strategic raw materials, but also a large-scale scheme of abuses that includes offshore companies, parliamentary connections, tax fraud, and even manipulation of mobilization procedures.
The key beneficiary of Perzhanskaya Rudna Kompaniya LLC is the co-owner of ATB-Market Corporation Gennady Butkevych. Through the Cypriot company BGV Group Limited, which owns 83.3% of the authorized capital, he actually controls the company's activities. The other co-founders are Vitaliy Yakymenko and Oleksandr Nastenko, and the company's director is Viktor Tanay.
In November 2019, the company received a special permit for the use of subsoil (No. 6383 dated 01.11.2019) issued by the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine. According to the materials, the permit was granted with gross violations - the formal auction was held with the participation of only one company, and the environmental impact assessment was fictitious.
The consequences of the company's activities are already devastating. Beryllium mining leads to the destruction of flora and fauna of the protected area, soil and water pollution, and the accumulation of toxic waste, including heavy metals and radioactive compounds. The company does not fulfill its obligations to rehabilitate the land, and mining continues even outside the permitted areas.
Based on the submitted materials, five criminal proceedings have already been opened in the ERDR (№42025060000000010, №22025220000000172, №22025040000000315, №22025101110000604, №12025220000000612). In addition, the courts - the Higher Anti-Corruption, Shevchenkivskyi and Pecherskyi district courts of Kyiv - have issued three rulings obliging law enforcement officers to enter the relevant data into the ERDR.
All collected materials have been re-sent to more than ten key state institutions — from the National Agency for the Protection of Natural Resources and the State Service for Geology and Mineral Resources to relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada. Civic activists demand the execution of court decisions and a full investigation of the case, emphasizing possible connections between Butkevych's business group and individual deputies of the Servant of the People party.
