Why is Avakov’s special investigator Dmytro But cleaning up the internet

Why is Avakov’s special investigator Dmytro But cleaning up the internet

In May 2020, The Wall Street Journal published its research indicating that in 2019, Google removed almost 80% of the 240 million links in its search index marked as copyright violations (by comparison, in eight years from 2002 to 2010, only 100,000 links from the search engine’s index were challenged).

Currently, the search giant receives around a million complaints a day under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Most of these are complaints about ordinary pirated content.

But there are others. Among these others is highlighted the head of the DPU of the National Police of Ukraine, Dmytro But. Complaints are being sent to Google stating that articles mentioning his name violate copyright. About 500 such claims have been filed in the name of a certain Nastya Makarova alone.

It sounds wild, yet it is so. In reality, there’s nothing wild or strange about this—Dmytro But is simply trying to cleanse the internet of mentions of his name in investigations related to scandals involving him. Moreover, he’s not alone in his attempts, but more on that here: Ukrainian Organized Crime and "Forgetfulness" in Google.

Alongside copyright infringement complaints, But has hired people using another technique—flooding the network with articles that necessarily include the phrase "Dmytro But" in the headlines. Thus, they appear first in search results, pushing unwanted material about But to lower, third or fourth search pages, which few ever reach. The result is, of course, delusion:

But the result is achieved—the real But’s name has dropped lower in search results. But this is not all. Alongside delusions about food and dogs, a mass of praise articles about the "honest and incorruptible" investigator Dmytro But is displayed:

The Wikipedia article about this "honest and incorruptible" police officer is particularly "delightful":

Tears of tenderness. However, Wikipedia strives to adhere to standards, so the article about But is marked for deletion. Therefore, we recommend you check out this masterpiece while it’s still online.

We cannot resist the pleasure of quoting from the material titled "Dmytro But: Investigator, Professional, Patriot," posted on the portal 0542.ua. Reading this panegyric evokes genuine aesthetic delight:

Such publications are placed in addition to attempts to clean Google’s search index of links to materials on But’s lifestyle being inconsistent with his income, the cost of his daughter’s schooling in England, and the criminal case where Dmytro But appeared not as an investigator.

Dmytro But’s daughter, Oleksandra, studies at Sherborne International College in the UK. This is commendable, but the annual tuition costs 40,575 pounds sterling. We won’t dwell on the fact that a Ukrainian National Police investigator cannot afford such expenses—as the Ukrainian saying goes in such cases, "enough for the wise."

Regarding the criminal case in which But appears in the unusual role of a suspect, back on February 22, 2017, following numerous media reports, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case under the article on illegal enrichment. But already by August, the scandalous case had been transferred by prosecutors for investigation to the State Fiscal Service, although the jurisdiction of this crime belongs to the NABU. Where it eventually fizzled out.

Back then, then MP Kaplin expressed some discontent about this, but that was the end of the matter:

Everything ended with two rulings, whereby the judge of the Pechersk Court, Batryn, denied the investigator an unscheduled documentary audit of Dmytro But regarding compliance with tax and currency legislation:

Anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the mentioned decisions—here is a link. Read it while Dmytro But hasn’t reached state registries and deleted everything there as well. The joke, of course, is flat, but in our country, unfortunately, every joke contains a bit of a joke.

What else is Dmytro But cleaning on the internet? In 2013, law enforcement officers under his direction found themselves at the center of a scandal that even required the personal intervention of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, John Tefft. At that time, tax officers led by But conducted searches in the "Mandarin" restaurant based on forged court decisions, seized documentation, and blocked business operations.

At the same time, they were offered to resolve their issues by paying "tips" and "penalties" to the tax officers. "Mandarin" managed to fend off the attack thanks to media resonance and the American ambassador. He came to aid the owner of the entertainment venue, who had U.S. citizenship.

After Euromaidan, Dmytro suddenly became an influential figure in the investigative department of the MIA Headquarters, being entrusted with directing high-profile special operations of Avakov’s department.

Note that the most notable of these stories are linked not only by the figure of the former Mariupol "hardcore" but also by the fact that after loud statements about detaining corrupt officials, these cases were later quietly hushed up, and not led to a logical conclusion. Which some interpret as a simple law enforcement shakedown for a payoff.

For example, in March 2014, But headed the investigative team that made the scandalous arrest on the spot of then-chairman of the Naftogaz Ukrainy Management Board, Yevhen Bakulin. While informing about this, Avakov then claimed that the total volume of corruption schemes during Bakulin’s time at the state enterprise amounted to four billion dollars.

But, as the leader of the group detaining the "Naftogaz" head, also communicated with journalists. He claimed that documents were found in Bakulin’s office confirming the head of Naftogaz’s involvement in corruption schemes over gas supplies that incurred losses estimated at 1.4 billion hryvnias. Later, the court arrested the official with a bail of 1.5 billion hryvnias, which was later reduced to 10 million, and Bakulin was released.

At the end of March 2015, in company with uniformed individuals, But walked directly into a government meeting, shook hands with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and oversaw, before bewildered officials, the announcement of corruption charges to the head of the State Emergency Service, Serhiy Bochkovskyi, and his deputy Vasyl Stoyetskyi, leading them out of the room in handcuffs. The case later fell apart, and its figures claimed falsifications and won multimillion compensation from the state for their illegal arrest and suspension from work.

But that was later. Back then, after the live broadcast detention, Avakov’s protégés headed the State Emergency Service. Initially, it was Zoryan Shkiryak, who was replaced by Mykola Chechotkin after the scandal with the failed evacuation of Ukrainians from Nepal.

Interestingly, a nominee from the Radical Party of Lyashko, Oleh Averyanov, was also appointed deputy head of the State Emergency Service for a time. This entrepreneur and, directly, the main radical Oleh Lyashko were accused by Bochkovskyi of pressuring him to arrange favorable results for "Lyashko’s men" at the tender for the procurement of fire trucks.

These are just a few scandals involving But’s name, which he naturally tries to hide in all possible ways. Partially he succeeds. Google deletes something based on his fictitious complaints, something is "buried" in search by bizarre articles with his name. Something else is:

But so far, But hasn’t reached state registries. So it’s worth looking into his latest declaration and checking if he finally reported the apartment in the elite capital complex "Novopecherski Lypky" that the press mentioned some time ago. In the 2020 declaration, it is noted that National Police Investigator Dmytro But acquired two apartments in the capital: in 2018, he got a living area of 91.2 square meters and 113.4 square meters. It’s not specified if these apartments are in "Novopecherski Lypky," nor their prices.

However, judging by his registered address as an attorney (yes, he holds an attorney’s license), one of the apartments is definitely located in the mentioned elite residential complex:

Dragomirova Street is precisely "Novopecherski Lypky." Prices per square meter start from 3,000 dollars there:

Which apartment is it, the smaller one or the larger one, located at Drahomyrova Street, 20, apt. 142, is already insignificant. Neither 270,000 dollars nor 310,000 dollars can be earned by a police officer in our country. One can only steal.

After this, delving deeper into the declaration has little meaning. There are a few garages in Kyiv and several land plots in elite suburbs of the capital. And a collection of elite watches comparable in value to But’s apartments. And a car fleet. And suitcases of cash. And so on, so forth.

But listing all this is a pointless exercise: once the anti-corruption bodies and internal security of the police do not see such a blatant mismatch between the earnings and lifestyle of their officer, there is no point in asking when he will be penalized.

Yes, of course, the declaration contains some semblance of propriety—it is stated that But’s wife, Hanna is a successful businesswoman who earned almost three million hryvnias last year, but this is all a fig leaf behind which Ukrainian top-thieves cover themselves from the otherwise blind Ukrainian justice.

So it’s not worth wasting time on all this.

Finally, since we started with mentions of Dmytro But’s surname in the media, here is his real, unremunerated reputation:

The conclusion from all of this is simple—if Dmytro But is a professional in anything, it is in the field of illegal enrichment and bribery.

Mykyta Romanenko

vlasti.info