Dead souls and inflated prices: National Police investigate corruption schemes in "Kyivteploenergo"

The Capital National Police continues to record facts of possible corruption in the work of the ME “Kyivteploenergo.” This year, a case was opened concerning potential misappropriations during various procurements and capital repairs, one of which was expected to cost the budget 863.9 million UAH.

According to law enforcement officers, the municipal enterprise overpaid these contractors, who in turn used questionable subcontractors. In addition, in June, it was reported that one of the “Kyivteploenergo” employees was suspected of causing 916.6 thousand UAH in damages to the city’s budget due to the restoration of the asphalt surface damaged during a heating network burst in Troyeshchyna. The investigation believes these losses were due to price inflation on building materials. Currently, the court is considering indictments against two more ME officials who, according to the National Police, are involved in fictitious employment at “Kyivteploenergo” of a number of citizens, for whom one of the accused received salaries - amounting to at least 3.4 million UAH.

As reported by KV, such facts are being investigated within at least four criminal proceedings: №42022102060000141 from September 14, 2022, №12023100060000477 from March 17, 2023, №12024100070000816 from April 8, 2024, and №12025000000000458 from February 3, 2025. All these cases were opened by the capital’s National Police authorities.

The defendants in the first case are charged with crimes under parts 2, 3, and 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement, or taking possession of another’s property by abuse of official position, as well as these crimes committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy of a group of persons and in large amounts or under martial law); in the second and third cases - part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (official negligence causing serious consequences); in the fourth case - parts 4 and 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the same embezzlement and appropriation in large amounts or under martial law, as well as committed in particularly large amounts or by an organized group).

Soon, the Pechersk District Court is to consider the petition of the capital’s prosecutor’s office regarding the consolidation of two criminal cases on the appropriation of funds by one of the officials of ME “Kyivteploenergo” through fictitious employment of citizens at this enterprise. These are criminal proceedings №42022102060000141 and №12023100060000477, for which law enforcement officers have already submitted indictments against the head of the personnel development department of the personnel management department of ME «Kyivteploenergo», Bohdan Vorozhbyt (accused in both cases), and the director of the specified department, Svitlana Strokach (accused in the first case).

Detailed details on the first case are currently unavailable in the public domain; the court register contains only some information on what the law enforcement officers investigated, but does not have precise data on which crimes “entered the indictment.” In particular, the court rulings in this case report that Svitlana Strokach allegedly organized an illegal scheme of money appropriation in “Kyivteploenergo” through the fictitious employment of people related to her, who actually do not appear at work for a long time and do not fulfill their job duties not perform. Thus, at least two women were hired as managers of the personnel development department of ME “Kyivteploenergo” in September 2018. In total, these two individuals were paid more than 3.4 million UAH “net” during the period up to October 2022, that is, without taxes (1.7 million UAH each).

As law enforcement officers determined, the salary cards of these women were allegedly in the possession of Svitlana Strokach, who, according to the investigation, further appropriated the "hard-earned" money transferred to them. Currently, this official from ME “Kyivteploenergo” is charged with crimes under parts 2, 3, and 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. As for Bohdan Vorozhbyt, who was her subordinate, his role is not specified in the court rulings in this case.

Meanwhile, it is known that in the second case this official is charged with official negligence (part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), which was expressed in that Bohdan Vorozhbyt did not control that two citizens were fictitiously employed in the same positions as managers of the personnel development department, although he should have done so under his job description. In particular, the National Police believes he should have understood why some unknown persons were hired at the enterprise, receiving salaries, but not seen at workplaces - probably, except for those who employed these citizens. According to the investigation, this led to a loss of approximately 2.5 million UAH (salary plus taxes) for the enterprise. At the same time, one of these "ghost" employees of "Kyivteploenergo" also features in the case of Svitlana Strokach.

Under the same article of the Criminal Code, on June 6, 2025, law enforcement officers informed the head of the estimate department of ME “Kyivteploenergo” of suspicion within the case №12024100070000816. According to the investigation, because of her, the enterprise "lost" funds during "the restoration of asphalt concrete and FEM coatings of rupture sites after elimination of damage on heating networks" in Troyeshchyna.

Law enforcement officers established that it was this official who signed the final summary of resources under the relevant contract, which was concluded between ME “Kyivteploenergo” and LLC “Avest Bud” on March 7, 2023 (the total cost of work under this contract was to be 9.3 million UAH). According to this statement, the contractor received "extra" 916.6 thousand UAH - referring to the inflation of the cost of certain materials (including hot asphalt concrete mixes) used in the repair works.

Within the proceedings №72024001110000049, law enforcement officers study possible "budget misappropriations" in the procurement of chemicals and the performance of various works, ordered by PJSC "Kyivvodokanal" and ME "Kyivteploenergo".

Law enforcement officers have confirmed that contracts for the supply of these inorganic chemicals (including coagulants for water purification) were concluded at inflated price indicators, and the business entities that received funds for performing such contracts later transferred them to controlled enterprises to withdraw them into the shadow sector of the economy - for appropriation and distribution among members of the criminal scheme. During the product market analysis, the investigator learned that average prices for such chemicals were overestimated - other state and communal structures of Ukraine purchased them at a significantly lower cost.

Moreover, the National Police discovered that "fictitious financial transactions with controlled business entities" were conducted for carrying out various works and that the actual cost of equipment used for their performance was inflated twofold. Law enforcement officers established that these companies involved subcontractors who "belong to a transit-conversion group of fictitious business entities and have the same algorithm of activity." It means that such subcontractors used the same IP addresses to send tax invoices, had the same directors and chief accountants, lacked office and warehouse premises, etc.

Among other things, law enforcement officers are interested in a "semi-secret" contract for the reconstruction of one of the "Kyivteploenergo" facilities, concluded on December 25, 2024, between this enterprise and LLC "Eknis" (the contract does not specify the location and functions of this facility due to security requirements, as it includes the provision of its physical protection). The total cost of these works was to be 863.9 million UAH. In this investigation, LLC "Eknis" is mentioned as one of the companies with which contracts are concluded at inflated prices.

According to the analytical system Youcontrol, LLC "Avest Bud" was registered in August 2017 in Kyiv, but since September 2024, the company is legally "registered" in Mykolaiv. Since August 2025, the head and ultimate beneficiary of "Avest Bud" is a resident of Horenka village in the Kyiv region, Yevhen Nemtsev, and before that, for a long time since 2021, the owner of the company was Margarita Vasileiko, registered in the temporarily occupied Makiivka of the Donetsk region. Meanwhile, the capital LLC "Eknis" was registered in October 2020. Its head is Vitaliy Senchuk, and the ultimate beneficiary is Kyivite Oleksandr Yanovych.

Both companies regularly cooperate with “Kyivteploenergo.” According to the analytical platform Clarity-Project, LLC “Eknis” has 10 contracts with this ME totaling 914.8 million UAH, and LLC “Avest Bud” – 11 contracts for 59.7 million UAH.

It should be noted that the owner of LLC "Eknis" Oleksandr Yanovych is also the owner of the almost similarly named LLC "Eknis-Engineering" - a company engaged in "the supply of electrical equipment of all voltage classes for primary and secondary circuits, design, installation, and adjustment of power facilities up to 750 kV, servicing SF6 equipment," among other functions. This company is also a defendant in another criminal proceeding on possible embezzlement of funds for work ordered by ME "Kyivteploenergo" - referring to the capital repair of equipment at CHP-6, for which "Eknis-Engineering" received 371.1 million UAH from "Kyivteploenergo."

It should be recalled that in 2003-2007, Oleksandr Yanovych, together with Ihor Goltsov and Anatoliy Golchanskyy, was a co-founder of LLC "Vyshhorodlisbud" - a company which owned or still owns land under the suburban house of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychko in Liutezh village of Vyshgorod district of Kyiv region.

In 2018, journalists reported that this estate on the shore of the Kyiv Sea occupies several hundred square meters of coastal zone, violating the requirements of the Water and Land Codes. The city’s head then did not deny owning this property (it appears in his income declarations, particularly for 2023) but mentioned that "everything was already there" when he bought it. Currently, VPS "Vyshgorodlyisbud" is owned by the mayor of Kyiv’s brother - also a former famous boxer, Volodymyr Klychko. At the same time, apparent business connections between Oleksandr Yanovych and the Klychko brothers are not observed in open sources for now.

The heat supply sector and, specifically, the activities of ME "Kyivteploenergo" have been constantly criticized by the public, government representatives at various levels, different state structures, and law enforcement bodies. Among the main reasons for criticism are dubious uses of budget funds that do not improve the condition of engineering networks and equipment.

Recall that at the beginning of 2023, the State Audit Service reported that this enterprise accrued violations and shortcomings totaling 20.28 billion UAH over 3.5 years, of which 3.26 billion UAH was ultimately lost. Almost a third of the total sum of violations - 7.7 billion UAH - accounted for heat and water losses due to the critical state of the networks. Among other things, there are illegal expenditures without supporting documents, inflation of the cost of ordered works, dubious "inheritance" of debts from PJSC "Kyivenergo," overpayments in gas procurements, and "extra money" charges to its employees, among others.

Considering such a "bouquet" of problems, auditors suggested that Vitaliy Klychko consider punishing those responsible, making personnel changes in the management of "Kyivteploenergo," and obliging this ME to compensate the damages. However, the city authorities chose another tactic - indirectly accusing the "auditors" of bias, and announced their intention to seek judicial review of their actions. Later, no official of "Kyivteploenergo" or relevant structures of the Kyiv City State Administration was harmed.

The National Police is currently studying another scheme for the misappropriation of budget funds, which allegedly took place during ME "Kyivteploenergo" procurements. Law enforcement officers believe that from 2021, this enterprise purchased various goods (mostly special clothing) from LLC "UTMK Trade" at inflated prices totaling over 30 million UAH, and further part of this money was embezzled through about four dozen companies with indications of fictitiousness. Currently, investigators have identified the circle of persons involved in such activities, among them an unnamed citizen who helped to launder financial resources from the municipal treasury into the shadow sector of the economy. A search was conducted at her home this year, during which funds and gadgets were seized - these may assist the law enforcement officers in their investigation.

In another "fresh" proceeding, the capital’s National Police has revealed that "machinations" occurred in the reconstruction of ME "Kyivteploenergo" equipment (including deaerators) totaling 114.1 million, performed last year and this year by LLC "Atomrembud." According to the investigation, during these works, equipment was purchased from dubious firms, its value was inflated, and "excess money" was laundered through business entities with signs of fictitiousness. Furthermore, the parties even concluded contracts for various works not included in electronic trading systems. As a result, the head of SP "Kyiv Heat Networks," Vasyl Derevytskyi, is under suspicion and officially accused in another criminal case regarding the loss of more than 1.5 million UAH from the Kyiv budget.

Since December 22, 2018, ME "Kyivteploenergo" has been directed by Vyacheslav Bind. This enterprise is subordinate to the Department of Housing and Communal Infrastructure under the Kyiv City State Administration, led by Dmytro Naumenko since July 17, 2017. Interestingly, he is currently under investigation for possible embezzlement of budget funds amounting to 1.19 million UAH during the construction of a water pipeline on Zroshuvana Street. The housing and utilities sector in Kyiv has been controlled by Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Petro Panteleyev since 2014.