Head of Zakarpattia Police Implicated in Scandal

A scandal is brewing in Uzhhorod over the construction of the Uzh Towers residential complex. According to local activists, the project has become the centre of corrupt schemes in which, allegedly, Yaroslav Kolesnyk, the head of the Zakarpattia Regional Police, is implicated. 

Claims are circulating on social media that he is providing protection to the developer and participating in the laundering of funds of criminal origin.

Suspicious appointments and pressure on business

Rumours of corrupt schemes within the Zakarpattia police have been circulating for a long time, but they have gained new scale since Kolesnyk’s arrival. Appointed in 2021, he brought dozens of officers from other regions to the area, whom local entrepreneurs accuse of pressuring businesses.

One of those cited as a victim is Oleksandr Bercha, the owner of FG “RANET”, who attracted investments from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Poland for the construction of Uzh Towers. However, serious legal problems soon arose around the project.

Urban planning violations and court rulings

The investigation established that the permit to change the land’s designated use for the residential complex was issued in violation of the law. The city’s master plan did not provide for the construction of residential buildings on this plot, yet Uzhhorod’s chief architect, Oleg Borshovskyi, approved the change in bypassing regulatory requirements.

The inspection revealed serious violations:

• Construction proceeded without compliance with sanitary and protective standards.
• The maximum permitted height was exceeded (12 storeys instead of 9).
• The building footprint covered 53% of the plot, against an allowable 30%.

The court banned construction and subsequently placed a seizure on the land plot. However, despite the ruling, work did not stop, and the director of the developer company, Stanislav Leppik, was given suspicion in a criminal case.

Corrupt scheme and “police cover”

According to activists, after meetings with the developer, Kolesnyk rushed to terminate the investigation. In exchange for loyalty, he allegedly received a bribe from Bercha — a two-room apartment in the Residens Park residential complex, registered in the name of relatives.

Furthermore, according to public figures, during his tenure in Zakarpattia, Kolesnyk managed to launder approximately $10 million obtained from various shadow operations: smuggling, illegal call centres, the transfer of draft dodgers across the border, and corrupt schemes in military enlistment offices.

The head of the regional police also features in journalistic investigations into the escape of former head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tupytskyi.