SSU uncovered large-scale abuses in "Kyivtransparkservice": four former executives have been notified of suspicion

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) continues its investigation into possible crimes committed by officials of ME "Kyivtransparkservis." Recently, four former executives of this enterprise received suspicions as part of the relevant criminal case. In particular, law enforcement officers have preliminarily established that private companies to which MEtransferred parking lots for operation used more parking spaces than was stipulated in the contracts. According to SSU estimates, this led to losses for "Kyivtransparkservis" and the city budget in the amount of more than 23 million hryvnias. It also became known to the investigation about more than 20 locations for which "Kyivtransparkservis" does not receive funds at all. Among those who caught the attention of law enforcement is the former director of this ME, Vladyslav Opryshko, who is accused of causing material harm amounting to 3.6 million hryvnias due to the operation of unaccounted parking spaces.

As KV has learned, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is continuing its investigation into the high-profile criminal case No. 12017100010010407, within which law enforcement is studying possible mass violations by former officials of KP "Kyivtransparkservis" and private companies that collaborated with them.

This case was opened on November 2, 2017. The figures in the case are preliminarily charged with committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 191 (misappropriation or embezzlement of another’s property entrusted to a person or in their control) and Part 2 of Article 367 (official forgery that caused serious consequences) of the Criminal Code (CC) of Ukraine.

What the investigation found out

As part of this investigation, law enforcement officers have preliminarily established that immediately four former leaders of ME "Kyivtransparkservis" from 2019 to 2022 "did not make appropriate managerial decisions" regarding the enterprise’s activities, which led to various potential violations. Their names are not specified in court rulings on the investigation due to the presumption of innocence. However, given the timeframe mentioned by law enforcement, it may refer to the following four former directors: Oleksandr Nimas, Anatoliy Sviryd, Vladyslav Yevhen Psolo, and Vladyslav Opryshko (in the collage from left to right).

The SSU has discovered that these then-officials did not issue orders and directives to their subordinates regarding the inventory, inspections, and checks of parking lots, nor did they take measures concerning the development of new traffic organization schemes and imposition of fines, etc. As a consequence, according to law enforcement, the former leaders of "Kyivtransparkservis" did not terminate contracts concluded with private companies for the operation of parking lots, where there were recorded cases of using significantly more parking spaces than the number transferred to these business entities according to such agreements. According to the investigation, this caused material damage to "Kyivtransparkservis" and the Kyiv budget amounting to 23.48 million hryvnias.

This means that due to a lack of inspections, officials de jure "failed to notice" that more cars were being parked on parking lots than stipulated in agreements, and the difference in funds received for the operation of "surplus" spaces was allegedly "pocketed" by the case participants.

Furthermore, the SSU has established facts of "illegal activity during the allocation and management of night parking lots in Kyiv." The Service indicates that these four leaders of ME "Kyivtransparkservis" could have received undue benefits from controlled companies and entrepreneurs to whom such lots were transferred for operation.

Among such business entities, law enforcement mentions LLC "Avtosom," LLC "Gou2net," LLC "Kyiv Investment Union," LLC "Capital Invest Management," LLC "Capital Management," LLC "Kyiv Park Service," LLC "Kotrans," LLC "Parkservice Plus," LLC "System Capital Group," LLC "Sky-Trans," LLC "Capital Auto Parking," as well as six unnamed individual entrepreneurs mentioned in court rulings on this case. According to the SSU, the above-mentioned companies and enterprises used parking lots without signed acts of acceptance-transfer, resulting in KP "Kyivtransparkservis" not receiving funds for their operation into its accounts. In total, according to law enforcement, more than two dozen park locations in various areas of the capital are (or were) being exploited in this manner.

In this case, it is apparent that the respective lots were being operated without the payment of funds to "Kyivtransparkservis," which was supposed to transfer part of these financial resources to the city treasury.

Currently, all these four former leaders of "Kyivtransparkservis" have received suspicions from law enforcement agencies for committing crimes under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It is known that one of the figures is former acting director of this KP Vladyslav Opryshko — court rulings specify the specific period of the figure’s work in this role, making it easy to identify his name. Opryshko was informed of the suspicion under the above article on January 20, 2025, and only on February 21 was a preventive measure chosen for him — although this is commonly done in the early days after the presentation of a suspicion.

Notification of suspicion to one of the case figures (photo SSU)

Thus, the Solomyanskyi district court applied an "obligation" to him, meaning that Opryshko must surrender his foreign passport, appear before law enforcement and the court upon first demand, etc. (valid until March 20, 2025, and it is unclear if this preventive measure has been extended. – KV). Notably, SSU requested applying a preventive measure in the form of 24-hour house arrest, but the court seemed to find it too harsh.

Interestingly, based on SSU data, during searches in the administrative buildings of the Kyiv City State Administration, "Kyivtransparkservis," and the residences of the figures, phones, large sums of cash, and documents with evidence of illegal activities were found.

Financial resources seized during the searches (photo of Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office)

In the case of Vladyslav Opryshko, SSU established that he was aware that business entities were actually operating parking lots in all areas of Kyiv not in accordance with the area of land plots and the number of vehicle spaces specified in the agreements handed over for operation. Moreover, this former official should have initiated amendments to the respective contracts to increase the number of parking spaces subject to operation, as well as ensure the payment of the parking levy for their use to the budget, impose fines and terminate contracts. However, as noted by the SSU, this was not done.

As a result, according to the Security Service, Opryshko caused losses to the enterprise he headed amounting to 3.6 million hryvnias. This figure was determined through a judicial economic examination conducted within the framework of this proceeding. To determine the amount of material damage, law enforcement used materials from an audit of "Kyivtransparkservis" activities conducted by specialists from the Northern Office of the State Audit Service of Ukraine from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2022.

Notably, during this "audit," auditors totaled up violations amounting to 50.8 million hryvnias for the above-mentioned period. The "checkers" believe that such an amount "racked up" as a result of various business entities exploiting 6918 illegal, unaccounted-for parking spaces on lots assigned to "Kyivtransparkservis," and which this enterprise transferred "into private hands" for temporary use.

Moreover, earlier in the SSU within this criminal case mentioned other sums of potential violations committed by officials of "Kyivtransparkservis" and their "entrepreneurial partners." Thus, as early as 2023, law enforcement indicated that they might be talking about 10 million hryvnias in monthly shadow revenues that the participants in these schemes could have received. These figures were calculated using a simple "formula": the number of illegal parking spaces in Kyiv (about 20 thousand) multiplied by the market rental cost of one parking space per month (500 hryvnias).

How "Kyivtransparkservis" works

As previously reported by KV, the activities of ME"Kyivtransparkservis" have repeatedly attracted the attention of auditors, law enforcement agencies, and the public.

For instance, during an audit of this enterprise’s activities from January 2019 to January 2021, conducted by the Department of Internal Financial Control and Audit (Kyiv City State Administration), it was found that "Kyivtransparkservis" officials had allowed financial violations amounting to 239.7 million hryvnias, leading to losses of about 171.8 million hryvnias. Specifically, Kyiv City Hall specialists found that the enterprise was not receiving funds due to the illegal use of parking spaces, failed to operate many of its allocated parking lots, did not control the use of intercepting parkings near metro stations, lost competition to private "towing" companies, etc.

Meanwhile, within two criminal cases opened in 2022 and 2023, the National Police is investigating facts of losses by this enterprise, and consequently, Kyiv’s budget, amounting to approximately 433 million hryvnias. According to law enforcement, these financial resources were lost by this ME and the city treasury due to dubious transfers of parking to private business entities, the non-use of several lots due to the absence of approved traffic organization schemes, the operation of such lots by outside companies without making any payments, etc. Throughout 2024, several searches have already been conducted at the office of this ME and its leadership, during which, in particular, important documents and even mobile phones with potentially "interesting" correspondence for law enforcement were seized.

Additionally, since May 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has been examining facts of unlawful use of land assigned to KP "Kyivtransparkservis." According to the investigation, on numerous plots intended for parking facilities, entrepreneurs organized "points" of sale for fuel and lubricants — preliminarily, it is about autogas filling stations (AGFS) of the "Bars" network. Law enforcement established that such activities are carried out without properly executed documents, aided by officials from the aforementioned ME, officials of the Kyiv City State Administration, and "tax authorities." Investigators believe this scheme is also aimed at "appropriating" municipal land, for which one company has already registered its real estate on the respective plots.

Interestingly, in 2016-2017, "on a wave of the struggle against illegal gas filling stations," Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office attempted to expel dealers from some of these plots. However, at the time, law enforcement failed — in part because the formal activities of these entrepreneurs had been approved by the Ministry of Regional Development and Kyiv City Hall’s "urban development" department.

The Kyiv City Council regularly discusses the need to reform the parking sector. For example, at the end of last year, deputies from the "Servant of the People" party stated they were dissatisfied with the capital’s leadership, which, instead of developing a comprehensive program on this issue, merely adds numerous park lots to a special appendix to Kyiv’s budget, which are then used "without formalizing the land" with questionable efficiency. Lawmakers indicate that Kyiv authorities’ violations of the law have already been established in court — the judges are essentially demanding that the city’s authorities allocate land plots for parking under clear procedures according to the Land Code, and not just make agreements with private companies to provide services.

It should be noted that the director’s duties for KP "Kyivtransparkservis" have been performed by Oleksandr Serhiyenkov, who is the first deputy director of the enterprise in charge of parking organization, since June 21, 2024. Before him, from July 17, 2023, this KP was managed as acting director by Vladyslav Oliynyk (he was the deputy director for security of this enterprise). He replaced Yevhen Psolo in this position, who was head of the KP from August 8, 2022. His predecessors were the above-mentioned Vladyslav Opryshko (from January 10, 2022), Anatoliy Sviryd (from April 13, 2020, until Opryshko’s appointment), and the scandalous Oleksandr Nimas (ran the enterprise from August 13, 2018, to March 20, 2020).

This enterprise is subordinate to the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the Kyiv City State Administration, which has been headed by Ruslan Kandybor since September 1, 2021. From August 4, 2017, to December 3, 2018, this department was headed by Serhiy Symonov, from August 13, 2019, to October 31, 2019, by Ivan Fedorov (current head of Zaporizhzhya Regional State Administration. – KV), and from February 6, 2020, to April 5, 2021, by Valentyn Osipov. Between appointments of permanent heads, this department was temporarily headed by the deputy head of the structure Ivan Shpelyovyi.

The activities of the mentioned department have been personally monitored by Vitaliy Klychko since November 9, 2021. Before that, control over the transport sector of the capital was exercised by Oleksandr Hustyelyev, who was dismissed from the position of deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration by Klychko on November 5, 2021.

Author: Ivan Kulyk