Businessman and former deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia regional council Vladyslav Marchenko was detained in a case of embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the purchase of drones for the Ukrainian army. Along with him, Defense Ministry official Vitaly Kuznetsov and former head of the Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Haiday became suspects.
This is the second high-profile criminal case for Marchenko. In 2017, he was charged with “obtaining unlawful benefit” and “embezzlement on an especially large scale.” At that time, he held the position of deputy chairman of the regional council from the Samopomich party.
The investigation established that Marchenko, together with the current head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA Ivan Fedorov and the director of the Melitopol City Park KP, ensured the victory of the T.O.K. company in the Melitopol City Council tenders. For this, according to the case materials, they received a "kickback.".
After Fedorov had already been charged with suspicion, the then prosecutor of Zaporizhzhia region, Roman Romanov, intervened and the document was canceled. Case No. 646/8434/17 was transferred to the Kharkiv District Court, where it was considered for over eight years: 350 decisions and not a single verdict. Constant petitions, expert examinations, recusals of judges, and delays in the process effectively “buried” the proceedings.
Marchenko is a well-known businessman in Zaporizhia, a former head of the regional organization "Samopomich" and a person with influential connections, in particular with Vemir Davityan. His family belongs to the Protestant movement in Ukraine, and his brother Mark Marchenko is a developer and founder of SENSAR Development.
Whether the new case will repeat the fate of the 2017 scandal will depend on the progress of the current investigation and how many of Marchenko's "friends" remain in the government offices.
