Kulichenko Ivan Ivanovich
Biography
Education.
Ivan Klichenko was born in Dnipropetrovs’k. In 1977, he graduated from the Dnipro Civil Engineering Institute.
Career
- In 1979, after serving in the USSR Armed Forces, he got a job at the Capital Construction Department of the Dnipro Regional Executive Committee.
- In 1986, Ivan Kulichenko was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Dnipro City Executive Committee. His entire career has been associated with work in city government.
- In 1990, he became Deputy Chairman of the Dnipro City Executive Committee.
- In 1994, he became the first deputy mayor of the city.
- Since April 1999 — acting mayor of the city.
- He was elected mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k three times in a row — in 2000, 2002 and 2006.
- In 2010, he joined the Party of Regions and was elected mayor of Dnipro for the fourth time.
- In 2014, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in the single-member district No. 28 in Dnipro, was elected as a Member of Parliament with 33% of the vote, and resigned as mayor of Dnipro on November 21.
- On February 22, 2014, immediately after the shooting on the Maidan, he resigned from the Party of Regions at the insistence of local residents.
- From November 2014 to August 2019, he was a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.
Biography.
As Business Capital has written, Ivan Kulichenko has always positioned himself as a person equidistant from the influence of financial and industrial groups. Being a loyal fan of the Dnipro football club, he maintains relations with its owner Ihor Kolomoisky, but tries not to spoil them with another business heavyweight, Victor Pinchuk. The mayor’s office is also quite loyal to other representatives of Dnipro business, many of whom praise the mayor for not interfering in their affairs. He is also not noticed in persistently pushing his personal business interests. Although there is an alternative opinion that they are present in road construction, and the mayor’s relatives control a significant share of the local outdoor advertising market.
In December 2008, Ivan Kulichenko was listed at No. 119 in the “200 Most Influential Ukrainians” rating compiled by Focus magazine. The publication noted that in March 2008, the Committee of Voters of Ukraine conducted a study of the fulfillment of election promises by mayors of the largest cities of Ukraine, and the mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k was the leader.
INTERNAL POLICY DEPARTMENT OF DNIPROPETROVS’K CITY COUNCIL PAID 1100000 UAH FOR SERVICES NOT RECEIVED
According to journalists of the website “Nashi Hroshi”, in 2011-2013. The Department of Internal Policy of the Dnipro City Council spent more than UAH 1100,000 to pay for services that were never provided. This was reported by the press service of the State Financial Inspection.
The violation was discovered during an unscheduled audit of the department’s activities, which was conducted in accordance with the decision of the Babushkinsky District Court of Dnipropetrovs’k.
The said amount was transferred to contractors for services related to computer equipment maintenance, organization and holding of scientific and practical conferences, round tables, trainings, seminars, car rental and construction research. However, these services were not provided. In addition, the auditors found that one of the contractors did not have any specialists who could perform the work in question.
The Internal Policy Department suspended operations with budget funds on the accounts. The audit materials were handed over to the Department of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovs’k region.
In 1999-2014, Ivan Kulichenko was the head of the Dnipro City Council. It was headed by Ivan Kulichenko, who was a member of the Party of Regions in 2010-2014. He was a member of the Party of Regions.
The former mayor of Dnipro is running for election with the party “Nash Krai”
It is very interesting that Kulichenko changed three political forces. At first he was a member of the Party of Regions, then he joined the BPP Solidarnist, and now he has decided to run for mayor again, but with Nash Krai.
This was reported by the party’s press service. According to Kulichenko, today the development of local self-government is the key to restoring the country’s economic and resource potential. He also noted that «Nash Krai» is in the top 3 parties represented in local authorities. «There are many of my colleagues there, and today Nash Krai is a political force that ranks third in Ukraine in terms of representation in local governments. This force has the experience, youth and courage to drive important processes both in Dnipro and in Ukraine. We do not want to criticize anyone or demand anything. We want to offer and do it together,» the party quoted the former mayor of Dnipro as saying.
But soon, Nash Krai was not allowed to run in the elections, and all of Kulichenko’s ambitions and plans were destroyed. Kulichenko was also recognized as the most irresponsible MP in 2015-2016.
Kulichenko did Vilkul a disservice
Open support from the former mayor is the worst thing that could have happened to Oleksandr Vilkul. This opinion is expressed by political analysts commenting on today’s statement about the need to vote for the Opposition Bloc candidate, voiced by Ivan Kulichenko, who headed Dnipropetrovs’k for 15 years: from 1999 to 2014.
“The point is not only that now all of Vilkul’s statements about how the previous government destroyed Dnipro for years will be perceived as simply untenable. After all, it would have been impossible to “bury” the city’s economy during Kulichenko’s absence. The problems are so systemic that they have been accumulating for decades.
It was those decades during which Ivan Ivanovych was at the helm of the metropolis,” emphasizes political scientist Viktor Fesev. According to him, such a transfer of the “mayoral baton” also means a complete discrediting of Vilkul as a “businessman”. “Do you know what is most frightening about Kulichenko’s statement? The fact that he argues that the Opposition Bloc candidate should be supported by the need for the mayor to deal with economic issues rather than political ones.
And at the same time, he calls the construction of exits from the Kaidatsky Bridge, without which, according to Kulichenko, further development of Dnipropetrovs’k is impossible, Vilkul’s main merit. “You can imagine the cynicism of this man: elevators have not been working for decades, there is no public transportation system as such, social projects are frozen, and we will solve all this by building exits from the bridge to the outskirts of the city,” the expert notes. However, Ivan Kulichenko’s attention to Vilkul’s “Komsomol construction projects” may also indicate the former mayor’s interest.
“Since the exit from the Kaidatskyi Bridge is so important to Ivan Ivanovych, we can conclude that they “sprayed” the money for its construction together — Kulichenko as mayor and Vilkul as governor of the region,” says Viktor Fesev. According to him, this could explain many of the “strangeness” of Ivan Kulichenko’s behavior during his tenure as mayor. “It has always been unclear how the mayor allowed the monopoly of Kryvyi Rih companies in the passenger transportation market. And now the situation is clear,” the political scientist emphasizes.
Early scams with Vilkul
According to the Censor.Net website, in 2013, a scandal broke out in Dnipropetrovs’k, which has no analogues in the history of Ukraine. The city and its residents were openly robbed of 96 properties with a market value of more than UAH 1.5 billion.
According to the Dnipro-based website Informator, “the scam involved former governor Oleksandr Vilkul and Dnipro Mayor Ivan Kulichenko.
With complete inaction of the regional prosecutor’s office, they deprived the city of objects of social significance, giving them as payment for a fictitious debt that was issued retroactively to confuse the traces. At the same time, the objects were valued at a miserable UAH 42 million.
On July 24, 2013, during the proceedings in the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovs’k, with the consent of the City Council, a settlement agreement was reached under which all 96 municipal property objects on the balance sheet of the municipal enterprise were valued at only UAH 42 million and transferred to Solaris to pay off the debt. The company seems to forgive another 25 million of this fictitious debt. The process of returning this real estate to the ownership of Dnipro is still ongoing.”
An attempt to legalize aunts
The Dnipro press noted that during Euromaidan, the mayor of the city tried to legalize titushky. The website Vgorode noted that “according to the order of the executive committee of the Dnipropetrovs’k City Council of January 28, another public formation appeared in Dnipropetrovs’k region — for the protection of public order. Its representatives — young athletic guys who appear in rallies near the regional state administration — called their movement “People’s Guard of Dnipropetrovska oblast”.
KULICHENKO COMES UP WITH A NEW NAME FOR DNIPROPETRIVSK
— More than two years ago, Ivan Kulichenko, a Ukrainian MP and former mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k, proposed to name the city Dnipropetros. Petros means “stone” in Greek. The city has a unique outcrop of granite rocks, hence the proposed name, Dnipropetros. This was reported by the newspaper Dnipro Vechernyi.
— “But I believe that this is not the main issue on which we need to spend money now, so I did not vote for the law on toponymy in the Verkhovna Rada,” Ivan Kulichenko said at a meeting of deputies of the Dnipro City Council. — “I talked to veterans and realized what they feel about this. It is necessary to discuss this issue widely with the population.
Sanatorium “Tavria”
On December 4, 2006, a criminal case was opened against Ivan Kulichenko for embezzling 810,000 budget hryvnias allocated for the construction of the Tavria sanatorium in Crimea.
Kulichenko’s first deputy, Anatoliy Krupsky, whose signature was on forged documents on the long-term lease of 150 hectares in the center of Dnipropetrovs’k, Lenin Square, to a company, is also under investigation.
Criminal case against the Mayor’s advisor
On December 9, 2008, Olga Katan, the mayor’s advisor on tender policy, was arrested. A criminal case was initiated against her, charging her with 8 criminal acts. The mayor’s advisor fraudulently took possession of eight apartments.
Ivan Kulichenko is a regular “client” of the prosecutor’s office
This time, the prosecutor’s office will deal with Ivan Kulichenko in connection with his failure to comply with the decision of the Babushkinsky District Court of June 24, which declared illegal the dismissal of Borys Dedov, director of the Central City Children’s Park Lazar Globa. The court ruled to reinstate Mr. Dedov immediately. On July 15, the deadline for voluntary compliance with this decision expired, and Ivan Kulichenko was informed of this by representatives of the State Enforcement Service.
However, Ivan Kulichenko, who is authorized to appoint and dismiss heads of municipal enterprises, has not yet taken any measures to restore justice. In this regard, Boris Dedov appealed to the prosecutor’s office with a demand to initiate a criminal case against the mayor. And there is no doubt that such a case will be initiated. And not only because there are all the grounds for this. It’s just that there are a lot of influential people in Dnipropetrovs’k who benefit from a mayor who is on the verge of being “imprisoned.” Then they can negotiate with him from a position of strength. And negotiations are not in the interests of the citizens…
Boris Dedov was also «Kulichenko’s man». But he was also a talented manager. When a new director came to the Globa Park municipal enterprise 10 years ago, the wild, littered massif turned into a beautiful place in the city. Moreover, the park has become the only profitable municipal enterprise in Dnipropetrovs’k! Globa Park received about 1.2 million hryvnias from the operation of its rides alone, while Shevchenko Park received 110 thousand. It got to the point where Boris Dedov refused to accept the 170 thousand hryvnias from the budget, which city council members had repeatedly tried to «ennoble» the park with. He suggested that the deputy commission on the budget find a more worthy use for these funds — for social protection of the disadvantaged…
But some servants of the people decided instead to trample the successful municipal enterprise under their feet. It all started when Valentyna Boyko, the head of the Department of Culture, and Iryna Zaitseva, the deputy mayor, tried to impose a charter on the park, according to which its authorized capital would be only 10 thousand hryvnias, with the profitable attractions going to the enterprising Ms. Boyko. Dedov disagreed, and a protracted confrontation ensued, escalating into a violent conflict: the fighters of a private security company, following Ms. Boyko’s orders, threw Borys Ivanovych out of his office. Svitlana Kravchenko, an accountant from Ozerka, took over as director. Ivan Kulichenko watched the raider seizure of the park indifferently, claiming that he knew nothing about the plans of his subordinates. Dedov also defended the park’s interests in court on his own. And having won, he faced the indifference of the mayor, who did not want to intervene in the conflict situation.
KULICHENKO’S FORMER DEPUTY PLACED UNDER HOUSE ARREST
The Tax Police, in close contact with the Dnipropetrovs’k Regional State Administration, is engaged in detecting and embezzling funds from the state and local budgets, namely, tenders, road construction, purchase of medicines, etc.
This was reported to MOST-DNIPRO by Serhiy Penkov, First Deputy Head of the Main Department of the SFS in Dnipropetrovs’k Oblast.
This month there were several high-profile cases involving embezzlement of funds from local and state budgets. In the summer of this year, the former deputy mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k was detained and arrested by the court. As of today, the ex-deputy mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k has been released from custody for health reasons and has been placed under house arrest as a preventive measure. The case is being investigated, and it is a very large case, because during the implementation, 14 companies that won tenders for road construction and city landscaping were searched. At that time, the amount of transfers made by these companies was about UAH 200 million. The inspections take time because they include forensic accounting and technical examinations. Hopefully, in January and February, a number of criminal cases will be sent to court under Article 191 (embezzlement of funds from the budget),» he said.
KULICHENKO’S MITSUBISHI VIOLATED TRAFFIC RULES ON THE WATERFRONT
Kulichenko’s Mitsubishi Pajero Wagon with license plate AE 0100 MR crossed two solid lines while driving from the sidewalk to the embankment. According to an activist of the ZOV who filmed the video, in this simple way the mayor left a party where the entire city leadership was present.
The jeep was driven by Ivan Kulichenko, but the driver’s face is not visible in the video, so there will be no statement to the traffic police.
The former mayor of Dnipro is driving someone else’s car
Ivan Kulichenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament (Petro Poroshenko Bloc) and former mayor of Dnipro, is driving someone else’s car and living in a hotel room whose rent exceeds his salary.
Thus, according to the MP’s 2016 income declaration, Kulichenko owns a land plot (837.49 square meters) and a house (518.4 square meters) in Dnipro, as well as a 49.2 square meter garage. The former mayor of Dnipro did not declare any valuable property.
Kulichenko uses a 2007 Mitsubishi Pajero owned by a third party, but the cost of the car is not specified. This car did not appear in the previous year’s declaration.
Kulichenko did not declare any securities or corporate rights. At the same time, he claimed authorship of nine inventions, one in metallurgy and eight in construction. Among the sources of income, the MP mentioned UAH 142677 of salary received during the year in the Verkhovna Rada, or UAH 11.9 thousand per month, UAH 169871 of compensation for expenses for the performance of parliamentary powers and UAH 168360 of compensation for renting a hotel room in Kyiv (i.e., the room costs UAH 14 thousand per month). Kulichenko also received UAH 115,642 in pension (UAH 9.6 thousand per month) and UAH 250,946 in bank interest. The former mayor has UAH 880 thousand, USD 10.7 thousand and EUR 2.4 thousand in his bank accounts. He keeps another UAH 325 thousand in cash. A year earlier, Kulichenko had UAH 1.17 million in his bank account and UAH 450 thousand in cash.
Kindergarten and Kulichenko: political campaigning for the youngest in Dnipro
A newspaper campaigning for the former mayor and MP Ivan Kulichenko was distributed in a kindergarten in Dnipro. This was reported by journalist Liza Svetlova on her Facebook page.
The journalist acknowledges that the newspaper is published in accordance with the law, with the circulation and printing house indicated. At the same time, Svetlova is concerned that the newspaper is distributed in an institution financed from the city budget with taxes paid by Dnipro residents.
Dnipro MPs Kulichenko and Vilkul receive compensation for housing
In August, 17 MPs from Dnipro received compensation for rent.
According to the MPs’ declarations, many of them are far from poor people. For example, former mayor of Dnipro Ivan Kulichenko has over a million hryvnias in his accounts. Kuryachyi has approximately the same income. And Dubinin has over UAH 15 million on deposit.
The mayor of Dnipro lives in a three-story building with a gym, while his deputy “seized” the street
At the addresses listed in the documents of First Deputy Mayor Igor Tsirkin and Deputy Mayor Vladimir Medvedchuk, the neighbors have never heard of living next to influential officials. But the mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k, Ivan
Kulichenko, the mayor of Dnipropetrovs’k, has never concealed his place of residence at 140 Rybinska Street (near the Substation).
Compared to the luxurious mansions in the neighborhood, his three-story (518.4 square meters) house under a red tile roof looks modest. Behind a low brick fence and an alarmed metal gate (guarded by a private company), a small front garden with cherries, thuja, and grapes, common to Ukrainian latitudes, can be seen. The windows of the second floor are barred, and on the third floor, through a wide glass window, you can see sports equipment — apparently, Ivan Ivanovych is trying to keep fit.
What did Ivan Kulichenko forget in prison?
The political campaign is in full swing, and parliamentary candidates are attracting voters in various ways. For example, Ivan Kulichenko, a candidate for the People’s Deputy of Ukraine in the 28th constituency, has started repairing the Dnipro Penal Colony #89 in the Zakhidnyi residential area.
By allocating funds for repairs before the elections, the colony should ensure an increase in votes in favor of Kulichenko in the early parliamentary elections to be held on July 21, 2019.
Mr. Kulichenko himself planned to allocate budget money, but due to the change of government, his plans changed a bit. Now Ivan Kulichenko is allocating money for the repair of the penal colony’s food unit from an unknown source.
The activists learned about this “generous” gift for the penal colony at 1a Danyla Halytskoho Street from the candidate and began to picket the prison.
A participant in the protest action, Roman Moishin, said that the current MP and candidate Ivan Kulichenko planned to allocate 1.2 million hryvnias of budget funds for reconstruction.
Conclusion.
Kulichenko’s biography raises a lot of interesting questions. It is still unclear whether Kulichenko has a car, as some sources indicate a Mercedes, but the declaration does not mention it, and what is this mysterious Mitsubishi? The former mayor is clearly lying about his transportation. We also see a picture of typical corruption schemes and embezzlement of the state budget. It is strange how a mayor with a criminal record was able to stay in office for 15 years.