On 25 November this year, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) completed a scheduled inspection of the organisation of work on preventing and detecting corruption in the activities of the Kyiv City Council and its executive body, the Kyiv City State Administration.
The NACP positively notes the creation of independent structural units in the Kyiv City Council and the Kyiv City State Administration to prevent and detect corruption.
However, during the audit, a number of risks were identified that negatively affected the effectiveness of the implementation of anti-corruption policy in the body. These include decisions made by the Kyiv City Council that contradict the law and lead to:
- the illegal removal of various categories of land, including agricultural land, from the communal property of the Kyiv community, the free transfer of which to private ownership is prohibited during martial law.
The provisions of the Procedure for Acquiring Rights to Land from Communal Property in the City of Kyiv allow the Land Resources Department of the Kyiv City State Administration to independently grant permission to the lessee of a land plot to make decisions on the division and consolidation of land and to approve documentation on the land management of leased communal land (including agricultural land), bypassing the Kyiv City Council, which is the owner of this land. This contradicts the provisions of the Land Code of Ukraine and the Laws of Ukraine ‘On Land Management’ and ‘On Local Self-Government in Ukraine.’
Based on the fact of the illegal disposal of the specified category of land, the NACP made substantiated conclusions, upon consideration of which the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine initiated a pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position) regarding the illegal disposal of agricultural land from communal ownership as a result of the illegal registration of rights to garden and summer houses that were not actually provided to citizens, as well as the illegal registration of real estate located on communal agricultural land that was not allocated for such development.
- illegal exemption of unfinished construction projects from paying a share in the creation and development of Kyiv's infrastructure, which resulted in only part of the funds being transferred to the local budget for the development of the city's infrastructure. The materials collected during the inspection were sent to the Office of the Prosecutor General for representative action;
- satisfaction of private interests when making decisions on the implementation of administrative cases regarding the imposition of financial sanctions through the courts on violators of legislation in the field of cultural heritage protection.
The NACP established that between 2022 and 2025, 35 legal entities were fined more than UAH 2.1 million for violating legislation in the field of cultural heritage protection. However, only UAH 146,200, or 7% of the total amount of financial sanctions imposed, was received by the budget.
- Abuse of official position in the use of local budget funds. The agency established the fact of embezzlement of budget funds by officials of the Department of Municipal Security, who purchased diesel generators at inflated prices. Their actions caused losses to the state in excess of UAH 1.6 million.
Based on the substantiated conclusion of the NACP, the State Investigation Service initiated criminal proceedings under Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement or acquisition of property through abuse of official position) against the persons involved in the offence.
In addition, during the inspection, the NACP drew up reports:
- under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 172-7 of the Code of Administrative Offences (violation of requirements for the prevention and settlement of conflicts of interest) — against the head of the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration, who independently registered himself for exemption from mobilisation through the ‘Dія’ portal. The case is pending in court;
- under Part 2 of Article 172-4 of the Code of Administrative Offences (violation of restrictions on concurrent employment and combining positions) against an employee of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Kyiv City State Administration. The court found the official guilty of committing an offence and imposed an administrative penalty in the form of a fine.
Three orders were also issued regarding violations by employees of the Kyiv City State Administration of the requirements of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Prevention of Corruption’ regarding corporate rights.
