"The Butcher" of Ukrainian corruption: how Chervinskyi can "take down" Prosecutor Streluk

"The Butcher" of Ukrainian corruption: how Chervinskyi can "take down" Prosecutor Streluk

Corruption schemes of Kirovohrad prosecutor Yan Strelyuk: the key — SSU operative Roman Chervinskyi.

Chervinskyi, who is currently on trial due to a failed operation at an airfield in the Kirovohrad region, may provide incriminating testimony against Strelyuk. According to media reports, the SSU officer headed an inter-district department in Fastiv, and Strelyuk was then the prosecutor of the Vasylkiv district. The SSU, of course, observed Strelyuk’s inaction in the case of the misappropriation of 140 hectares of state water bodies. Chervinskyi himself conducted an operational investigation of the prosecutor and possessed all the documentation of his schemes.

Let us also not forget that it was through the SSU officer that Yan Strelyuk lost the "lucrative" position at the Poltava regional prosecutor’s office.

Let us recall that after his appointment, Strelyuk made an agreement with the local police chief Oleh Bekh and the head of the SSU Oleksandr Kryvych about “cooperation.” The cooperation involved joint “covering” of envelopes, gasoline, clay and sand extraction, and other criminal schemes.

But everything went awry when Chervinskyi was assigned to Poltava. During the incomplete four months he held the position, a number of high-ranking officials of Poltava were documented and detained. Thus, with Chervinskyi’s personal assistance, the scandalous head of the Poltava traffic police Petro Blazhivskyi was caught taking a bribe; the deputy head of the regional police investigation department was caught taking a $2,000 bribe; an SSU investigator was caught with a $1,800 bribe. Furthermore, Chervinskyi, together with the “Saakashvili inspection,” detained the prosecutor of the Lubny inter-district prosecutor’s office, Andriy Kulish, for a bribe.

To gain information about possible future detentions and with the permission of prosecutor Strelyuk, Bekh began wiretapping, using fictitious personal data, the employees of the SSU “K” department. The absurdity reached its peak when Chervinskyi himself and the head of the Internal Security in the Poltava region and his employees were placed under surveillance.

With the blessing of Strelyuk and the head of the SSU Kryvych, Bekh began wiretapping entrepreneurs to extort money from them in exchange for non-disclosure of information.
But Chervinskyi later realized that he was being “listened to” and conducted a series of operations, documenting the criminal conspiracy of the corrupt officials.

On August 20, 2011, together with the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (“Saakashvili inspection”), searches were conducted in the police, and a number of proofs of illegal mobile phone wiretappings were seized. Strelyuk was immediately demoted to acting prosecutor of the Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv, and criminal proceedings were opened against him. Oleh Bekh was then able to avoid responsibility and continue his service.

Thus, Chervinskyi has a serious basis to disclose information about Strelyuk and, in exchange for a plea deal, can say a lot about him. Now he is outside the jurisdiction of Kirovohrad courts and prosecutors, so he can speak freely. We await insights from Roman about Strelyuk.