Mafia-style land giveaway: Kyiv officials pushed allocation of hectares for an illegal garage

Half a hectare of land near a major transportation junction in Kyiv could have been turned into a profitable gas station with a car wash and a fast-food outlet. And all of this was granted to a private company without a land auction — thanks to real estate registered under its name covering only 121 square meters.

The Kyiv City Council lawyers’ warnings about legality were ignored. Now the Economic Court has canceled the lease of the plot, but the question of responsibility for the officials who promoted this decision and signed off on the submission remains open.

About how Kyiv realized a well-known land scheme, how it ended, and why no one has taken responsibility for it, read the Telegraph material.

Kyiv City Council leased to Etalon LLC 2021 for 10 years a plot of 0,4681 hectares on Petra Vershygora Street. The land was planned to be used for an gas station.

The basis for obtaining land without an auction was a property occupying 121,1 square meters, officially owned by the LLC. This property is approximately 40 times smaller than the plot itself.

Kyiv City Council lawyers warned of problems with the land allocation legality. As early as December 2021 year they returned the draft without consent.

The court found that the property was built illegally. The company was obliged to return the plot to the community and to demolish the structures at its own expense.

Officials of the Kyiv City State Administration were involved in promoting the land allocation. The project was submitted by Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Vyacheslav Nepop, Director of the Department of Land Resources Petro Olenych and his deputy Alla Vasilenko. Olenych is currently an accused in an NABU case.

Briefly about the main point: how a coveted piece of land was transferred to the LLC

Half a hectare of land near Petra Vershygora Street in the Dnipro district (cadaster number 8000000000:66:900:0141) is a coveted object. The plot is located directly near a large transport junction where heavy traffic flows intersect. Nearby are wide arterial roads — an ideal place for a gas station.

Such plans were indeed what the land lessee — Etalon-2021 LLC — pursued. The LLC filed for urban planning conditions for a gas station, a car wash, a fast-food outlet and a parking lot. But the plans probably will not be realized.

The Kyiv Economic Court found that Etalon-2021 LLC illegally obtained this plot for rent from Kyiv City Council. The land was transferred without a competition on special terms because the company officially owns property on this site — a service station in 121,1 square meters. Meanwhile, the land was leased to them totaling about 40 times larger.

How the plot was obtained. Telegraph infographic.

As early as December 2021 year the Legal Support Department of the Kyiv City Council returned the decision draft on the transfer of this land without consent. Lawyers pointed to several problems.

First, the document lacked a detailed territorial plan. The remark concerned the legality of transferring municipal land for urban planning needs without the necessary urban planning documentation.

Second, lawyers noted that according to the charter, Etalon-2021 did not engage in the operation, repair, and development of transport infrastructure facilities. Yet such needs were precisely what the land of the appropriate category was being assembled to transfer.

Moreover, the project materials mentioned areas of streets and roads, and lawyers questioned the determination of its boundaries and red lines.

Who signed the submission

However, the legal department’s remarks did not stop the process. 9 in February 2022 year the Kyiv City Council land committee rejected them. And in June, deputies supported the transfer of the plot. They voted for the submission signed by Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Vyacheslav Nepop, former Director of the Department of Land Resources Petro Olenych and his then deputy Alla Vasilenko. We will return to these names later in the text.

The land was being transferred for construction, maintenance and repair of engineering and transport infrastructure facilities. In fact, the company gained the ability to use a large municipal plot without a competitive procedure.

What the ETOLONG service station owned by Etalon-2021 looks like in reality.

The real estate rights register indeed indicates that Etalon-2021 LLC owns property of 121,1 square meters. Telegraph studied materials of the criminal case 12021100060000638. It states that investigators examined the plot and did not find a registered service station with two additional buildings. The territory was covered with trees and vegetation, and among them three unfinished structures of modern construction materials were found. Permits for building a service station were not found.

No building permits for the service station were found. Although in the submission signed by Kyiv officials it says that the land plot was built up.

Images from space also confirm — in reality the plot is covered by trees, not buildings.

And although this is not visible in space images, the plot indeed has a “building.” It resembles more a self-built garage than a service station. A photo of this “service station” was published by Kyiv City Council deputy Kseniya Semenova in 2022. She opposed transferring the land to the LLC, but it did not help at the time.

The Kyiv City Economic Court, in its ruling, emphasized that state registration of ownership does not legalize a self-built property. A separate question for investigators is how the state registrar conducted such registration. In any case, having such a record in the register did not grant the company the right to obtain municipal land without an auction.

As noted in the ruling, the land allocation under the pretext of maintenance of property involved deserting a free land plot for new construction. For this, land auctions were required by law.

As a result, the court declared the lease agreement from 16 February 2023 year invalid. Etalon-2021 was obliged to return 0,4681 hectares to the Kyiv city community and bring the plot to a usable state. For this, the company must demolish the building at its own expense.

Who stands behind Etalon-2021

LLC Etalon-2021 was registered in Kyiv in July 2018 year. Its founder, director and ultimate beneficiary in the registers is Oleh Bezpalyi. The company's charter capital is 10 thousand hryvnias.

The main activity of the enterprise at first was the rental and operation of real estate. Later, the directions included maintenance and repair of vehicles.

Bezpalyi was also linked to other companies. In particular, Etalon-2021 is connected to LLC Technogroup New, which operates in the wholesale sale of fuel, and LLC Regan-South, involved in retail fuel sales.

It is through these companies that journalists uncovered a curious business environment around the owner of Etalon-2021.

In June 2022 KyivVlada published material about the attempt to transfer land to Etalon-2021 and drew attention to the links of the company with Andriy Bibya’s business circle — the owner of the BRSN-Nafta gas station network.

The chain described by journalists ran through LLC Technogroup New. The founder of this company was Etalon-2021, and its head until June 2023 was Tetiana Kalyna. Kalyna also headed LLC Strategic Decision, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Andriy Bibba.

Another direction is LLC Regan-South, which also belongs to Oleh Bezpalyi. Previously the company was owned by Valentyna Melnychenko (1930 year of birth) — the mother-in-law of the MP of the VIII convocation Oleksandr Zholobetskyi (former member of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko). Among the company’s heads at various times were Zholobetskyi’s wife Olena and his son Borys.

Such connections are important for understanding the business environment of the company that received almost half a hectare of municipal land without an auction.

Olenych is a figure in Clean City. And what about Nepop?

A particular focus in this story is Petro Olenych. He headed the Department of Land Resources of the Kyiv City State Administration during the preparation of the Etalon-2021 land transfer project.

In February 2025 NABU and SAP conducted the operation “Clean City,” aimed at exposing corruption in Kyiv’s land and budget spheres. According to the investigation, participants in the scheme found promising municipal plots, registered ownership of buildings under controlled persons, and then through city authorities sought the transfer of land without an auction supposedly to service this property.

Among the suspects was Petro Olenych. The High Anti-Corruption Court set his bail at 15 million hryvnias. After depositing the money he was released from custody. In March 2025 Olenych was dismissed from the post of Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration. 6 October 2026 year NABU and SAP announced that the “Clean City” case had been sent to court. Olenych is among the accused.

Questions about his role in preparing the lease project for the plot on Vershygora Street remain. Just as questions remain about Vyacheslav Nepop, who was among the authors of the submission.

Olenych’s deputy Alla Vasilenko resigned as early as 2021 year, while Nepop continues to work. He is the only signatory who kept his position.

Law enforcement must determine what exact role he played in preparing and promoting the project, whether he knew about the lack of lawful grounds for the land transfer, whether he acted knowingly and whether his actions harmed the community.

The mere fact of signing or submitting the project does not automatically imply criminal liability. But after the Economic Court’s ruling, which found no legal grounds for non-competitive land transfer, law enforcement should have grounds to verify the actions of all officials who prepared and promoted this decision. Tele­graph will monitor to ensure such a verification takes place.

The land was taken from the company by court. But who will be held accountable for the fact that almost half a hectare of municipal territory ended up in its hands at all? After all, Etalon-2021 could not have unilaterally decided to transfer the plot. It required the signatures of officials, consent from relevant administrations, and votes from Kyiv City Council.