The investigation established that the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Vitaliy Klitschko, director of the Department of Industry, Volodymyr Kostikov, heads of districts of the capital, heads of municipal enterprises "Svitoch" and "Kyiv Heritage", as well as affiliated persons, in particular Serhiy Leshchenko and People's Deputy Artur Palatny, created an organized criminal group.
The essence of the scheme was to systematically extort money from entrepreneurs participating in city fairs. The perpetrators used inflated tariffs, artificial administrative barriers, non-transparent distribution of trading places, lack of clear criteria for admitting participants, and centralized accounting, which allowed them to manipulate the situation and enrich themselves at the expense of business.
Although the fairs are officially held under the auspices of the Kyiv City State Administration, the coordination of schedules and the placement of retail outlets was used for pressure, blackmail, and the benefit of close structures. The lack of an electronic register of participants, the manual allocation of places, and selectivity in admission grossly violate the principles of openness, transparency, and equality.
Upon the fact of the crime, the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in the city of Kyiv and Kyiv region entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under number 22025101110000954 dated August 1, 2025 under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - abuse of power or official position.
The investigation is ongoing, and law enforcement is checking everyone involved in the scheme.
