Corruption scandals in the Kyiv City State Administration have long ceased to surprise. But the latest case is a real shock even for those who have been there. According to the SBU, high-ranking officials of the capital's city hall, in collusion with utility workers and private companies, embezzled millions of hryvnias allocated for the care of seriously ill Kyiv residents, including those with mental disorders.
The investigation considers the organizer of the scheme to be the former deputy director of the Kyiv City State Administration's Department of Health, Gennady Lepsky, who currently works at the municipal institution "Psychiatry". He has already been arrested with bail set at 57 million hryvnias - that's how much, according to investigators, was stolen from the budget under the guise of the social program "Care. Towards Kyivans.".
Formally, everything looked noble: the contract with LLC "Mitsne Zdorovia" provided for the provision of palliative care - care, food, medicines - to terminally ill Kyiv residents. 149 million hryvnias were allocated for this. In practice, the lion's share of the funds was transferred to controlled individual entrepreneurs under the guise of renting property, purchasing goods and "pseudo-services", which were actually not provided or were provided at inflated prices. Some of the "sanitary" cars - for example, a brand new Porsche Cayenne - were used exclusively for the personal needs of the organizers.
According to the investigation, the scheme involved two deputy directors of the Department of Social Policy of the Kyiv City State Administration (probably Lyudmila Riyako and Halyna Dovhanchyn), the director of "Strong Health" LLC Ruslan Matveev, and Lepsky himself, who had the audacity to receive money for fictitious services directly into the accounts of the individual entrepreneur registered under him.
When the smell of roasting began to spread, Lepsky tried to flee abroad using fake disability documents — the same ones he had issued to avoid mobilization. But he failed to escape — he was detained.
Interestingly, this story is not the first scandal involving Lepsky's name. Back in 2019, he "shone" in the media with a luxury Porsche Cayenne registered to his brother. In the same year, the NACP established that the official had not declared a change in his property status. And in 2022, Lepsky ended up in court for non-payment of child support.
The prosecutor's office is now charging him with several charges: large-scale fraud, forgery of documents, abuse of office, and money laundering. The defendants face up to 12 years in prison.
Officially, the Department of Social Policy of the Kyiv City State Administration responded by stating that the services were provided and the expenses were confirmed by certificates of work performed. However, the conclusions of the State Tax Service and the analytical work of the BEB indicate the opposite: millions of hryvnias were withdrawn without any real benefit for patients.
Against this background, the "Komarnytskyi tapes" no longer look so shocking. The Kyiv City State Administration seems to be systematically and professionally robbing the budget, hiding behind beautiful program names, high-profile initiatives, and even charity. The only difference is in the objects of the robbery - this time it was the weakest and most defenseless.
