Vlada Molchanova's scandalous scheme

Kyiv developer Vlada Molchanova has found herself at the centre of a major corruption investigation. In late November 2023, the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv authorised searches at the premises of the Retrovil shopping centre in the Vinohrady district of the capital. 

These premises belong to the company "Martin", and the transaction is linked to the development of lands belonging to the Pucha-Vodytsia agro-combinate, where the residential quarters "Varshavskyi", "Varshavskyi Plus", "Dibrova Park" and "Varshavskyi 2" are being built. The investigation has been ongoing since May 2022.

Criminal scheme
The land on which construction is taking place belongs to the state and citizens of Ukraine and was previously used for scientific research and recreational purposes. However, investigators suspect that representatives of the Pucha-Vodytsia agro-combinate and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy may have acted in collusion with companies linked to the "Stolytsia Group", which is managed by Molchanova.

Business partners and financial fraud
Molchanova's main partners in the development are Lithuanian businessmen Raimondas Tumenas, Agne Ruzgiene and Marina Poznyakova. These same individuals are co-founders of the company "Khshtalt", which is also located in Retrovil. The company "Biznes-Garant", one of whose founders was involved in 2012, features in the investigation into tax evasion.

According to the investigation, employees of "Biznes-Garant" used closed venture investment funds to finance construction projects of the "Stolytsia Group". One element of the scheme was the improper transfer of dividends to Cypriot companies, such as S.G. Stolitsa group limited and Nambel holdings limited. This allowed them to avoid paying VAT amounting to 98.8 million hryvnia in 2020.

Cases and land fraud
One of the most high-profile cases linked to Molchanova is the dispute over the Kyiv agricultural market "Stolichnyi", where former owners accused the developer of a raiding takeover. The case concerns the illegal transfer of an 18-hectare land plot for construction, valued at 19.2 million hryvnia. It is suspected that employees of the Kyiv State Geocadastre changed the land's designated use, which allowed the plot to be handed over to third parties.

New evidence
In the course of this case, in July 2024, NABU detectives conducted searches. During these, they seized the mobile phone of Serhiy Korovchenko, Molchanova's common-law husband, on which they found important evidence related to the land under the market. The phone was seized as physical evidence, and documents, such as lease agreements, were used as exhibits in court.