Sukhachev also said that the development of the lands of the Kyiv hydroelectric power station, which Mazepa and 11 other defendants are accused of, could lead to a man-made disaster.
Top businessman was detained in the Shegini state of emergency
The State Bureau of Investigation received operational information that businessman Igry Mazepa was planning to leave Ukraine to hide from the investigation. Director of the SBI Aleksey Sukhachev announced this at a briefing on January 22.
As you know, Mazepa was detained on January 19 while trying to cross the Ukrainian-Polish border. The investment company Concord Capital, which he founded, then said that the businessman was allegedly going to the Davos Economic Forum, and subsequently the Krivoy Rog Cement Plant stated that the trip was supposed to be related to the search for investments for him.
“The director of the DBR recalled that within the framework of this criminal proceeding, the involvement of these persons in the seizure of about 300 hectares of land with an estimated value of 1.1 billion UAH is being investigated. The main defendant in this criminal proceeding was detained at the border when he tried to leave the country in order to avoid certain procedural “Indeed, the State Bureau of Investigation received operational information that the person involved may leave the territory of Ukraine in order to hide from the investigation,” the bureau said in a statement.
Sukhachev also said that the development of the lands of the Kyiv hydroelectric power station, which Mazepa and 11 other defendants are accused of, could lead to a man-made disaster, which would affect not only these lands, but also in Kyiv. He emphasized that on the territory of the Lebedevsky and Khotyanovsky village councils of the Vyshgorod district of the Kyiv region there is a left-bank protective dam of the Cascade of Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Stations and PSPPs of PJSC Ukrhydroenergo. It has a length of more than 65 km (an area of 3 thousand hectares) and is a hydraulic structure owned by the state.
Development on the territory of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Station began about ten years ago. Since 2014, various law enforcement agencies have investigated the seizure of land and hydraulic structures, and in 2022 the proceedings were transferred to the DBR.
The Bureau claims that three “well-known businessmen” divided the territory among themselves and reached an agreement with everyone who makes the necessary decisions and began to implement their deal.
“Officials gave out land on the territory of the Kiev hydroelectric power station, seemingly for farming, including to frontmen, who were found by businessmen’s henchmen for 1 thousand hryvnia. Then companies of businessmen bought these plots from them for next to nothing. Then, the construction of luxury housing took place, which was sold for a price of 500 thousand US dollars and above, but at the same time, only a plot of land was sold to the new owner; taxes from the sale of the house were not accrued or paid. In order to avoid the established procedure for putting a residential building into operation, certificates were issued, which indicated deliberately false information about that the houses were built before 1991,” the Bureau reported.
Participants of the criminal organization face a sentence of up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
Who is Igor Mazepa and what does he need incriminated?
Igor Aleksandrovich Mazepa (born in Kyiv on August 2, 1976) is a Ukrainian businessman and public figure. He is the founder and CEO of the investment company Concorde Capital. Igor Mazepa was a member of the supervisory board of PJSC Ukrsotsbank from November 10, 2016 to August 14, 2018. Mazepa is an investor in the Dobrobut clinic network, the Goodlife Park cottage town (located near the hydroelectric power station itself) and the Shelest complex, the MakeUp store, the amber business and the Krivoy Rog cement plant.
On January 18, searches began at Cocorde Capital facilities. The company claims that the investigative actions took place without a court order; the door to the business center was knocked down. “They are confiscating all documents that are not related to the case, but related to all areas of Igor Mazepa’s business activity. Personal belongings of employees working in other projects were confiscated,” said a comment from Concorde Capital.
Igor Mazepa himself was detained on the same day at the Ukrainian-Polish border, at the Shegini crossing. The company said that he had previously traveled abroad frequently for work and volunteer purposes, and reported his current trip to investigators and law enforcement because he was allegedly supposed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In addition to Mazepa and his brother, two more participants in the scheme were detained. According to the investigation, the founder of the investment company, his brother and other participants in the criminal organization, using corrupt connections in government agencies, illegally took possession of the lands of the water fund, where the hydraulic structures of the Kyiv hydroelectric power station are located. Igor Mazepa and his brother Yuri and several other people were suspected of seizing the lands of the Kyiv hydroelectric power station of 7 hectares worth 7 million hryvnia. Investigators also want to prove that Mazepa tried to take possession of 300 hectares of land worth more than 1 billion hryvnia.
Mazepa’s companies say that the proceedings against him are pressure from him defending business interests.
Back in July 2023, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the DBI reported that they had exposed the leaders and participants of a criminal organization who, thanks to corrupt connections in government agencies, took possession of the lands with the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric station. According to the investigation, the organization included “well-known investors in the field of luxury housing construction, their assistants, lawyers, architects, land surveyors and other qualified specialists.” Participants in the deal took advantage of gaps in the legal status of the plots. The lands were registered as agricultural purposes, which made it possible to allocate them to citizens of Ukraine. Other participants looked for “dummy people” through social networks who, for money, agreed to sign documents allocating land to them as private property. Most of them were students of educational institutions in the capital, who were misled and agreed to the offer due to their difficult financial situation.
On November 29, 2023, members of a criminal organization who illegally took possession of more than 7 hectares were exposed and detained lands on which hydraulic structures of critical infrastructure are located – the Kyiv hydroelectric power station. The criminal organization included almost two dozen defendants.
On January 19, Mazepa was chosen as a preventive measure in the form of detention with the possibility of a bail of more than 300 million. The prosecutor's office asked for a bail of 700 million hryvnia for Igor Mazepa and another 500 for his brother. This amount was explained by the financial condition of the suspect and his ability to hide from the investigation.
Igor Mazepa’s country house burned down at night on January 22. The cause of the fire is being established.
