Deputies Lesya Zaburanna and Artem Dubnov, on behalf of developer Mykytas, are collecting signatures in the Rada for an appeal to the Prosecutor General

Deputies Lesya Zaburanna and Artem Dubnov, on behalf of developer Mykytas, are collecting signatures in the Rada for an appeal to the Prosecutor General

Maksym Mykytas, who is involved in the case concerning the plundering of the military budget, has not stopped trying amid the war to regain influence over the Ukrbud corporation, which at the end of 2019 stopped work at its sites, leaving 40 thousand investors without housing at 26 unfinished 26 projects.

The situation was preceded by the sale by the corporation’s former president, Maksym Mykytas, of the holding’s key company — the firm "Ukrbud Development" — to a new investor. Shortly before that, the former MP was notified of suspicion of appropriating property of the National Guard worth more than 81 million hryvnias. The investigation established that he, using construction companies under his control and acting in collusion with the former commander of the National Guard, organized a corruption scheme to seize the NGU’s real estate.

In 2020, Mykytas voluntarily reimbursed 50 million hryvnias to the state budget out of a total damage amount of 81,64 million hryvnias, thereby admitting his guilt. Mykytas is also suspected of giving an undue advantage to secure the issuance of a false written opinion by a forensic expert.

According to our source in law enforcement, Mykytas is currently, through intermediaries Deputies Lesya Zaburanna, Artem Dubnov and Serhiy Hryvko, collecting signatures in parliament for a collective appeal to the Prosecutor General, promising financial reward for each signature (from 1000 to 2 thousand dollars). Attempts to induce members of parliament to corruption have been fairly successful — so far about 50 people have signed the appeal. An active moderator of this process is Artem Dubnov, who has long-standing friendly relations with Mykytas.

“The well-known circumstances of the cynical and brazen raider takeover of the Ukrbud group of companies left no doubt that those responsible would be held criminally liable in accordance with the law. As far as we know, law enforcement agencies have already come close to the stage of bringing those involved to such liability,” the draft deputies’ appeal states.

At the same time, according to the authors of the appeal, the signing deputies should be present during the consideration of this appeal.

“In accordance with part 3 of article 16 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Status of a People’s Deputy of Ukraine,’ ensure the presence, when the appeal is considered, of certain People's Deputies of Ukraine who will be designated after notification of the time and place of its consideration,” the authors of the document request.

As media reported earlier, Lesya Zaburanna has long-standing commercial ties with Maksym Mykytas. As early as last December she organized his meetings at the Prosecutor General’s Office and at the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. “His personal lobbyist is Deputy Lesya Zaburanna, who entered the Rada through the Bohdan-Vavrysh quota. For a small fee the woman arranges meetings with influential people, deputies and even the Prosecutor General. She invites Mykytas to the Budget Committee (which he reported to his wife about), promises to resolve issues in criminal cases. Zaburanna behaves extremely carelessly. She often screenshots correspondence with ministers, officials of the Presidential Office and shows them to her client. She brags about her influence and access to top officials,” the report says.

Recall that in June the State Bureau of Investigations transferred to NABU a criminal case against former MP Maksym Mykytas regarding the embezzlement of funds for the construction of three military warehouses totaling more than 400 million hryvnias. Previously materials on this case were with NABU and the SBI. Now, in the context of the relevance of military issues and the embezzlement of state funds allocated for the country’s defense, the case materials with numbers 62019100000000441 and 42019020420000024 have been combined into one proceeding and there is political will among the leadership to promptly bring it to court.

from-ua