“Fake renovation”: National Police did not forget about privatization of municipal premises by Kyiv council deputy

The Kyiv National Police continue to investigate possible significant undervaluation in the privatization of non-residential premises of 576 sq.m. on Post-Volynska St., 3 in Solomianskyi district of Kyiv. In 2020 the owner became LLC “KS Eco”, which collects secondary raw materials and is owned by Kyiv Council deputy Oleh Kostiushko (UDAR faction, pictured in the collage). While this company rented the premises from the city community, as usual, “integral improvements” were made to them (on paper — major repairs). But, according to law enforcement, their real cost was only 75,8 thousand hryvnias, not 1,8 million, as was declared and confirmed by the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA). The result — the company was able to purchase the property bypassing a competitive auction for 7,4 million hryvnias. In January 2026 law enforcement handed down a number of suspicions in this case — recipients included, among others, the first deputy director of the KCSA Department of Communal Property Oleh Shmuliar, two property appraisers, as well as the “former” and the acting directors of “KS Eco.” The former head of this company is currently declared internationally wanted.

As KV has learned, city law enforcement continue to study possible violations of the law during the privatization of the non-residential premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 (Solomianskyi district), which until 2020 were in the communal ownership of the territorial community of Kyiv.

The relevant investigation is being conducted within criminal proceeding No.42023102090000175, which was opened by the Solomianskyi Department of the National Police of Kyiv on 14 September 2023. Olga Bessonova was notified of suspicion in this case in absentia on 15 January 2026. She is the ex-director of LLC “KS Eco” — the company that purchased the specified real estate from the city community. The notification was handed to this citizen’s sister. Olga Bessonova is officially accused of committing crimes under part 2 of Article 233 (illegal privatization of communal property on a large scale) and part 2 of Article 366 (official forgery that caused grave consequences) of the Criminal Code (CC) of Ukraine.

On 19 March 2026 the Solomianskyi Department of the National Police of Kyiv announced Olga Bessonova wanted, and a week and a half later, on 31 March, law enforcement issued a decision to declare her internationally wanted. Back on 21 September 2024 this citizen left Ukraine via the Yahodyn checkpoint heading to the Republic of Poland. Law enforcement believe this person is hiding from the investigation. According to Olga Bessonova’s lawyer, the suspect currently resides in Spain. On 9 October 2026 the Solomianskyi District Court, at the request of law enforcement, chose detention as a preventive measure for this citizen — it must be applied within 48 hours from the moment of Olga Bessonova’s arrest.

What the investigators established

From April 2011 to December 2015 a number of lease agreements were concluded between the KCSA Department of Communal Property, the municipal enterprise “Kyivzhytlospetsexpluatatsiya” (“KZSE”) and LLC “Budmaterialy-Vtorresursy” for non-residential premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 with a total area of 556,6 sq.m. for an office and the collection and sorting of secondary raw materials and glassware. Later, in 2015-2018 the leases were amended — according to these changes, the tenant became LLC “KS Eco.” This company had previously been “spun off” from LLC “Budmaterialy-Vtorresursy” — so, very loosely, it can be called the “successor” of the “first” tenant.

During the investigation, law enforcement learned that approximately in August 2018 the then-director of LLC “KS Eco”, Olha Kot, developed a “criminal intent aimed at the illegal privatization of communal property — non-residential premises of 575,20 sq.m.” According to the investigation, the official decided to acquire the property “by inserting knowingly false information into privatization documents about carrying out integral improvements to obtain the right to privatize.” The idea was that LLC “KS Eco” would carry out repairs in the premises for a certain sum, which would have allowed the company to buy the property without a competitive auction, during which its price would likely have increased.

To that end, in August and September 2018 Olha Kot twice sent letters from LLC “KS Eco” to the KCSA Department of Communal Property. According to the National Police, in the first letter the company director listed the integral improvements that needed to be done in the premises on Post-Volynska St., 3. As investigators discovered, the citizen was aware that at the time of the request most of the listed repair and construction works on the site had already been “performed as routine maintenance during long-term lease use,” and therefore would not actually be carried out by LLC “KS Eco.”

In the second letter the company head petitioned city officials for permission to carry out integral improvements to the leased property. At the same time, Olha Kot provided the department with a description of the planned improvements, an estimate of the costs, information on the feasibility of the works and a copy of the project and cost documentation for the corresponding major repairs. According to the investigation, the consolidated cost estimate purposely included materials and types of work that had already in fact been performed at the site.

On 2 November 2018 one of the deputy directors of the KCSA Department of Communal Property (which deputy is not specified in court rulings in this case due to the presumption of innocence. — KV) approved a valuation conclusion for the premises at the specified address — their value was 7,1 million hryvnias. And almost a week later, on 8 November, the first deputy director of the same department (at that time the position was held by Oleh Shmuliar. — KV) gave consent for the improvements, including integral improvements in the amount of 1,8 million hryvnias, as provided by the cost estimate documentation.

Later, in March 2019 Olha Kot “went on maternity leave,” and the acting director of LLC “KS Eco” during her absence became the aforementioned Olha Bessonova. According to the investigation, Kot conspired with Bessonova — the latter allegedly was to “continue taking actions to prepare and use other forged privatization documents.” In particular, the “temporary head” of LLC “KS Eco” was to conclude a contract for repair works with a contractor, sign acceptance certificates for completed works, extend the lease agreements for communal property, and so on.

In July 2019 Olha Bessonova sent a letter to the KCSA Department of Communal Property requesting that the company’s leased premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 be included in the list of objects subject to privatization. Meanwhile, by 8 August the parties had already managed to sign a new lease for this real estate.

Around the same time, according to the investigation, Olha Bessonova concluded a subcontract with LLC “Resurs Bud” for construction works at the above address. As the National Police established, the agreement was concluded “retroactively” — it indicated the date of 14 February 2017.

A year later, in 23 December 2019, an acceptance certificate for the completed construction works at the above address was signed between LLC “KS Eco” and LLC “Resurs Bud” for a total of 1,8 million hryvnias. In the period from December that year to January 2020, “KS Eco” transferred 1,8 million hryvnias to its contractor, and later “Resurs Bud,” according to the investigation, transferred these funds to the accounts of two companies exhibiting signs of being fictitious. On 26 December 2019 the tenant of the premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 notified the KCSA Department of Communal Property about completion of the integral improvements. On 28 January 2020 another lease agreement was signed between LLC “KS Eco” and the KCSA Department of Communal Property to extend the lease term for the premises at the specified address (until August 2029). And after that, on 27 February 2020, the Kyiv City Council officially included this communal property in the list of objects subject to privatization.

In March 2020 a private forensic expert (his name and surname are also concealed. — KV) prepared a conclusion at the request of LLC “KS Eco” based on a construction-technical examination of the premises on Post-Volynska St., 3. This document recorded information regarding the identification and the period of actual execution of the capital repairs of these real estate objects. At the same time, according to the investigation, the information provided was false, and the expert acted on the basis of “forged privatization documents” (including acts of completed works) — “with the aim of obtaining illicit benefit.”

On 23 October 2020 a contract was signed between the city mayor’s Department of Communal Property and LLC “Valuation Company ‘Misto’” to conduct an appraisal of the non-residential premises on Post-Volynska St., 3. Four days later, on 27 October, the appraisal report and conclusion were already sent to the department — according to these documents, the value of the premises was 7,4 million hryvnias (including 1,2 million hryvnias — value added tax). At the same time, according to the investigation, the appraisers who calculated the value of this property aided the leadership of “KS Eco” in the illegal privatization of the leased municipal object, because they “willfully did not prepare and submit to the department a negative conclusion indicating the discrepancy between the existing improvements of the leased real estate and the supporting documents for the types and scope of expenses for such improvements.”

At the end of that year, in 28 December, a purchase-sale agreement for the non-residential premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 was concluded between the KCSA Department of Communal Property and LLC “KS Eco.” On the buyer’s side it was signed by the aforementioned Olha Kot, who had “returned from maternity leave” in September 2020, and on the department’s side by its head Andrii Hudz. The price of the mentioned objects, as noted above, amounted to 7,4 million hryvnias.

Subsequently, during January–February 2021 Olha Kot transferred the aforementioned funds to the KCSA Department of Communal Property. And during the investigation, according to the results of the court-ordered commission construction-technical examination, law enforcement established that the cost of the integral improvements made in the premises on Post-Volynska St., 3 amounted to 75,8 thousand hryvnias. That is, almost 25 times less than what LLC “KS Eco” had declared.