Top officials at the Ivano-Frankivsk City Hall profited from issuing permits to developers
In Ivano-Frankivsk, law enforcement officials uncovered a systematic corruption scheme in the field of urban planning, organized by city council officials in collusion with the head of a specialized municipal enterprise.
This was reported in an official statement by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who noted that the organizers of the scheme have now been fully apprehended.
The perpetrators turned the issuance of legal permits into a “paid service” for local entrepreneurs and developers.
According to the official investigation, the illegal scheme was organized by three key individuals: an official from the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture—the city’s chief architect; an official from the Office of State Architectural and Construction Control; and the director of the municipal enterprise responsible for the direct development of urban planning, design, and land management documentation in Ivano-Frankivsk.
City council officials acted as the direct organizers and executors of the preparation and signing of the necessary decisions.
The director of the municipal enterprise served as the main point of contact and facilitator; he personally met with “clients,” announced the established “fees,” convinced applicants of the inevitability of payment, and directly collected cash.
The bribe-takers took money from representatives of large and medium-sized businesses on two occasions: for issuing urban planning conditions and restrictions on land development, as well as for approving decisions to register notifications of the start of construction work.
In addition, they guaranteed entrepreneurs assistance in subsequently converting leased municipal land under real estate properties into private ownership.
Investigators have now clearly documented the facts of their criminal activity, specifically the solicitation and receipt of bribes totaling $26,000.
Law enforcement officials have released detailed price lists used by the dealers to run their shadow business in the region.
Specifically, the following payments were recorded: “$10,000 from a local businesswoman for building permits for three plots, $5,000 from a representative of a chain of construction supply stores for urban planning conditions and restrictions for one plot, as well as two installments of $8,000 and $3,000 from a construction company for similar permits and registration of the start of construction.”
Currently, all three participants in the corruption scheme have been detained in accordance with applicable law.
They have been officially notified of suspicion of receiving an unlawful benefit under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the director of the municipal enterprise has additionally been charged with aiding and abetting in the aforementioned crime.
A motion is currently being prepared for the court to impose pretrial detention as a preventive measure on all three detainees.
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