Kyiv has found itself at the center of a high-profile scandal that exposed large-scale corruption in land issues. Former Kyiv City Council deputy and now the shadow “watcher” of the capital, Denys Komarnytsky, has been building a scheme for years to own the capital’s land. Operation “Clean City” exposed an organized criminal group (OCG) of ten Kyiv City State Administration officials and deputies, after which the Kyiv City Council effectively ceased operations. Komarnytsky himself fled abroad and is wanted.
This was reported by the Absolution detective agency.
It turned out that a shadow office that runs Kyiv operates in the IQ business center.
Komarnytskyi forms factions, dictates the agenda through secretary Volodymyr Bondarenko, and “resolves” land issues with deputies.
Deputy Mayor Petro Olenych and Secretary of the Land Commission Mykhailo Terentyev report to him on matters, and dozens of officials from urban planning departments carry out his tasks.
Komarnytskyi regularly visits Artur Palatny, the mayor's associate from UDAR, which hints at a higher level of coordination.
The group registers fictitious structures (even toilets) under false names in order to appropriate valuable land without auctions – from UAH 11 million for a plot in the center to UAH 83 million in total.
On the tapes, Komarnytskyi can be heard complaining about the lack of “clerks” for his schemes, but key figures – Valentina Pelykh (Lands Department) and chief architect Oleksandr Svystunov – are still in their positions.
After the high-profile arrests in February, the Kyiv City Council actually stopped:
- the last full-fledged meeting was in December 2024; -
the session on February 20 was “landless” (the head of the commission, Terentyev, was in pretrial detention), but the deputies from the “EU” blocked the rostrum due to political demands about Poroshenko.
- On March 13, Klitschko opened the session, announced the release of those involved in the tapes and left - the “EU” blocked the work again.
How much does this “tumor” cost Kyiv?
The high cost of housing: Komarnytsky's kickbacks – a third of the cost of projects (money, apartments, contracts) – are applied to apartment prices. Plots are given out for pennies, and developers pay hundreds of millions for "services.".
Horrible development: Without a master plan, with the State Property Tax Department “under the developer”, Kyiv is drowning in “honeycombs” without infrastructure – this is the price for corruption in the land departments.
Budget losses: Shadowy schemes steal schools, subways, bridges from communities. Low rents, blocked plots, lack of auctions - billions are passing the treasury.
The mayor's team blames everything on the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Timur Tkachenko, who is blocking the orders of the Kyiv City State Administration. But Tkachenko has no influence on the Kyiv City Council, which has paralyzed itself. Klitschko has never learned how to conduct sessions in 10 years as mayor, and Bondarenko, Komarnytsky's "conductor", was only suspended from the chairmanship - not fired.
