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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
143 real estate objects, millions in schemes and treason: how Ukrainian security forces made money during the war
Treason in the SBU, luxury real estate of HBR leaders, multimillion schemes in public procurement, pressure on business and surveillance of journalists. Over 2022–2024 years Ukrainian law enforcement agencies were at the center of dozens of scandals. Suspects were identified, but many leaders were merely dismissed and continued their careers, reports Bihus.Info.
Under SBU head Ivan Bakanov, the head of internal security, Andriy Naumov, received a general’s rank, left Ukraine before the invasion, and became a subject of investigations into smuggling and illegal enrichment. The head of the Crimea department, Oleh Kulinich, was accused of treason and of concealing information about the Russian offensive.
There is no verdict; he denies the charges. Bakanov was dismissed in July of 2022, but already in 2023 he became a lawyer, and in 2026 he went into legal and technology business.
Former Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova became an ambassador to Switzerland after her resignation. Her deputy Oleksii Simonenko was dismissed for traveling to Spain in the car of businessman Hryhorii Kozlovskyi. Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin spent more than 100 days on foreign trips over 2023 year, a significant portion of them in the United States, where his wife lived. He was later appointed ambassador to the Netherlands.
The brother of HBR director Oleksii Sukhachev — Oleksandr — acquired 143 real estate objects at once from developer Yehor Maslennikov (“Stroy City”), some for $932–1856. The HBR later investigated the developer’s activities, closed the case and reopened it after journalists’ inquiries. The court tried to block the investigation. HBR deputy director Oleksandr Udovychenko, according to journalists, lived in apartments worth $900 thousand, registered to a relative of his partner.
The first director of the BEB was former tax police officer Vadym Melnyk. His successor Eduard Fedorov, together with families of senior SBU officers, participated in building a hotel complex in Myhove. Deputy head of the National Police Dmytro Tyshlek used property of the family of a partner of a Russian criminal authority, and his wife held an RF passport. Both officials left their leadership positions.
In 2023 law enforcement carried out searches at MacPaw, Improve IT Solutions, and blocked the operations of Lviv restaurants. According to data cited by the journalists from the Prosecutor General’s Office, almost 80% of criminal cases against businesses did not reach court. 42 entrepreneurs opposed the pressure, and in 2024 the issue was considered by the NSDC.
In 2024 Bihus.Info established that about 30 SBU employees were involved in surveillance and covert filming of journalists. The clients were not publicly named. Head of the SBU Cybersecurity Department Illia Vityuk became a subject of a case on illegal enrichment: the family’s apartment, valued at 21,6 million UAH, was listed in documents as 12,8 million. In September of 2026 NABU and SAP handed the case to court. The journalist who investigated Vityuk’s assets reported pressure via the TCK.
Former SBU officer and Presidential Office adviser Artiom Shylo became a subject of an NABU case about procurements for Ukrzaliznytsia with alleged damage of more than 240 million UAH. Transformers were purchased through a Bulgarian intermediary at nearly double the original cost.
After searches at the head of the Khmelnytskyi Medical-Social Expert Commission Tetyana Krupa, journalist Yurii Butusov published data on 49 prosecutors with disabilities, including regional head Oleksii Oleinyk. Declared payments exceeded 54,1 million UAH. The scandal was accompanied by Kostin’s resignation.
At NABU, after studying correspondence of businessmen Yurii Holyk and Heorhii Birkadze, suspicions arose of an information leak in the corruption investigation into the “Great Construction.” Deputy director Hizo Uglava was dismissed; he is contesting the decision. Those responsible for the leak have not been definitively identified.
Incredible, but true....
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