Yurchenko Oleksandr Mykolayovych
Official biography
Oleksandr Yurchenko was born on July 23, 1988 in Kyiv. In 2005, he graduated from the gymnasium №32 “Success”.
In 2012, he graduated from the Open International University of Human Development “Ukraine” (Faculty of Engineering Technologies, Design Department).
In 2012, he entered the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Institute of Postgraduate Education. After graduating from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Institute of Postgraduate Education), he received a degree in law.
Oleksandr Yurchenko is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Household Waste Management of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy. He was elected to parliament in the 211th capital constituency from the Servant of the People party. Before entering the parliament, he was a temporarily unemployed activist, heading the Public Council at the Holosiivskyi District State Administration.
Over the years, he has also been a pro bono assistant to Svoboda MP Oleksandr Shevchenko, Samopomich’s Olena Sotnyk, non-partisan Andriy Denysenko, and UKROP’s Taras Batenko.
Family.
His wife is Lesya Yurchenko (Kovalyk). Born on March 13, 1990, she is an employee of the medical company “Arterium”. Son — Mykola.
Career.
From 2005 to 2008, he worked as a courier, design technician, and architect of the third category at Ukrproektrestavratsiya Special Scientific and Restoration Design Institute.
In 2009-2015, he was the chief administrator of the international law firm Clifford Chance LLC.
In the 2019 elections, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation from the Servant of the People party in the 211th majority constituency (Kyiv, Holosiivskyi district), beating the most influential nominee of the European Solidarity party, the Secretary of the Kyiv City Council of the VII convocation, Volodymyr Prokopiev, who was considered the favorite of the election race before the election day, and the nominee of the Voice party, Taras Kozak, a businessman, financier, and founder of the UNIVER investment group (the namesake of the famous Lviv “opposition bloc” member).
Member of Parliament since August 29, 2019. He was a member of the parliamentary faction of the Servant of the People political party.
On September 17, 2020, he was expelled from the faction at his own request in connection with a criminal case of bribery. Chairman of the Subcommittee on Household Waste Management of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities.
Public activity
Oleksandr Yurchenko has been involved in public activities since 2011. He is a member of the committee of the NGO “Lustration” (EDRPOU: 36048969), since 2014 — the head of the separate subdivision of the NGO “All-Ukrainian Lustration” (EDRPOU 38746023) in Kyiv — Kyiv city organization of the NGO “Lustration”. From 2013 to 2014, he was the Deputy Chairman of the People’s Council of Holosiivskyi District.
In the Verkhovna Rada of the VII convocation (2012-2014), he was a pro bono assistant to MP Oleksandr Shevchenko (non-factional, constituency #83 in Ivano-Frankivsk region). Shevchenko is the manager and co-owner of the Bukovel ski resort, whose main owner is oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. In the 2019 presidential election, Shevchenko ran as a candidate of the UKROP party.
In the early local elections of 2014, he was a member of the Holosiivskyi District Territorial Election Commission (TEC) from Svoboda.
In the Verkhovna Rada of the VIII convocation in 2014, Oleksandr Yurchenko became a pro bono assistant to MPs Olena Sotnyk (Samopomich faction) and Taras Batenko (until November 6, 2015 — BPP faction, then — unaffiliated, constituency #123 in Lviv region), chairman of the subcommittee on the election of the Verkhovna Rada. ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oil, Oil Transportation and Oil Products Supply of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety), who was elected as a majoritarian from the BPP, but on November 6, 2015, he left the faction and headed the UKROP party.
In 2015, Oleksandr Yurchenko became a pro bono assistant to Andrii Denysenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the VIII convocation (until April 7, 2015, the BPP faction, then unaffiliated, constituency #26 in the Dnipro region), who on March 23, 2015, announced his withdrawal from the faction and became a member of the political council of the UKROP party.
In 2015, Yurchenko unsuccessfully ran for the Kyiv City Council of the VIII convocation from the UKROP party in district #3 in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv, after which he headed the district party organization of UKROP.
In 2015, he was a member of the initiative group of the Holosiivskyi district representative office of the Samopomich Union in Kyiv.
In 2015-2017, he was a member of the Public Council at the Holosiivskyi District State Administration from the Kyiv office of the Samopomich Union. In 2017, he was elected its chairman.
Since 2016, he has been a co-founder and chairman of the board of the Black Council NGO (EDRPOU 41421705). In 2016, he ran for deputy of the Kotsiubynske village council from the UKROP party.
Oleksandr Yurchenko spent a lot of time fighting for the preservation of Sovski Ponds from developers, in particular, against Hospodarnyk LLC, owned by Ihor Balenko, a deputy of the Kyiv City Council of the VII convocation (Solidarnist faction), owner of the Furshet chain.
In 2018, he was the author of a local initiative to preserve Sovski Ponds and a member of the initiative group to return local government to the capital.
Judging by Yurchenko’s Facebook page, he continues to take an active part in the public life of Holosiivskyi district even after the elections.
Compromising material
Oleksandr Yurchenko is the chairman of the Public Council at the Holosiivskyi District State Administration (DSA) in Kyiv. It is known that under his leadership, this public council did not produce any significant socially useful proposals and decisions important for the residents of Holosiivskyi district. At other times, his name came up only in construction scandals, where, according to developers, Yurchenko, hiding behind patriotic rhetoric, acted in his own selfish interests.
The Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Oleksandr Yurchenko, a Servant of the People suspected of involvement in corruption schemes in the Rada, has no right to be an MP. He, along with a dozen other MPs, is considered to be Ihor Kolomoisky’s man in the Verkhovna Rada due to past political and business ties with the oligarch. In connection with the corruption charges, Yurchenko wrote a letter of resignation from the presidential faction “Servant of the People”.
Corrupt actions
On September 13, the NABU exposed Ivan Fishchenko, an aide to MP Oleksandr Yurchenko of the Servant of the People faction, for bribery; on September 15, the aide was placed under arrest with the possibility of bail of UAH 1 million 552.
After that, Oleksandr Yurchenko expressed a desire to leave the faction and the party for the duration of the investigation into the bribe allegedly intended for him. He filed an application for expulsion from the faction.
The Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that they supported the decision of MP Oleksandr Yurchenko to leave the Servant of the People faction after the story of his involvement in corruption schemes in the Verkhovna Rada.
On September 17, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova signed a suspicion and a request for detention of Servant of the People MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, who is suspected of taking a bribe.
The case involving Yurchenko and his assistant was not originally a case about a bribe taken by an MP. It was supposed to be a bigger story.
NABU claims that in the summer it learned about the existence of an organized group within the Verkhovna Rada. According to the investigation, the group used MPs’ mandates in their private interests. And she received bribes for it.
According to the UP, detectives worked on several members of the committee where Yurchenko works.
In order to expose the group, law enforcement officers conducted a special operation.
What was the special operation like and what was agreed with the MP?
In July, a NABU detective named Demchenko started working undercover. He communicated and negotiated with the defendants in the case, transferred money and recorded it all on a hidden camera.
According to the investigators, the “sale” was legislative activity: in exchange for money, the MP was to submit amendments to the draft law “On Waste Management.” Their essence will be discussed below.
The undercover detective played the role of a representative of a company that, according to legend, was going to invest in Ukraine and wanted to prepare the necessary “ground” for itself in the law here. To do this, the detective met first with Fishchenko and then with Yurchenko.
The participants in the conversations published by the NABU hardly ever refer to money as money. From time to time, they talk about “goodies” or “helping the environment.”
All of these, according to NABU, are veiled names for bribes. And the MP’s “assistant” himself explains the meaning of these “terms” at one of the meetings. When the undercover detective asks if he understands that it is about money, the person whom NABU calls Fishchenko confirms it.
According to the investigation, the defendants initially asked for $13,000, of which $10 was to go to the MP and $3 to his intermediary.
They did not stop at this amount. The final price for the amendments was to be $200,000. According to NABU records, MPs took shares in companies for their services. The detectives also hinted at this, saying that when his company built the plant, they could share, «give out goodies» to those who «participated in the process.»
Moreover, at one of the meetings, the deputy and the intermediary said that they were most interested in “3% of the plant’s shares, which will bring something steadily.”
Yurchenko’s phrase from this episode has already become a meme: “I want a piece of the big pie.”
Released on bail, MP Yurchenko recorded a video message: blames the “garbage mafia”
Yurchenko’s direct speech: “Dear Ukrainians! In connection with the false information spread against me, I inform you that I have not committed any crime. I did not receive any unlawful benefit, did not extort anything from anyone and did not encourage anyone to provide me with money.”
Having studied the notice of suspicion and the materials of the pre-trial investigation, I claim that I have nothing to do with the crimes I am charged with.
This is confirmed by the searches that took place in all the premises that can be linked to my private life and to my parliamentary activities. The searches were carried out with numerous violations, they were carried out by NABU employees, and nothing was found that could be used in criminal cases.
Who needs this? The garbage mafia and the “packers” who receive millions of dollars from the fact that Ukraine has no legal framework that would regulate waste management, and for several convocations the Ukrainian parliament has not allowed the relevant laws to be passed. And today, when we came up with the revised draft law for the second reading, the garbage mafia began to do everything to prevent the legal framework that works in the entire civilized world from working in Ukraine.”
MP Yurchenko says that ₴3 million bail for him was paid by “people who care about the environment”
Expelled from the Servant of the People faction, MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, who is suspected of bribery, said that “people who care” about the environment posted 3 million hryvnias in bail for him.
He said this to journalists near the Verkhovna Rada building, Radio Liberty reports.
When asked who posted bail for him, Yurchenko replied: “People who are not indifferent to the environmental situation in the Kyiv region, who are directly involved in the problems of landfills.”
He denied media reports that MP Andriy Kholodov of the Servant of the People faction could have posted bail for him.
On November 4, the MP’s bracelet was removed.
Media reports that MP Yurchenko was beaten in Kyiv
This was reported on December 9 by Obozrevatel, citing an informed source.
The incident occurred today in the Holosiivskyi district. It is noted that the MP was attacked by two attackers.
“Two unidentified men approached the MP, began to harass and insult him, and then struck him several times. After that, they fled in a Volkswagen,” the source said. He also added that an “Interception” plan was announced in the city.
MPs Leros and Yurchenko fight on the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada
MPs Geo Leros and Oleksandr Yurchenko, who were expelled from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, got into a fight in the Verkhovna Rada. Leros said that Yurchenko attacked him “with his fists and xenophobic statements.” He said that Leros attacked him from behind and kicked him in the head.
A pistol that was not registered to him was found in the car of MP Yurchenko
A pistol was found in a Lexus LX 470 near the house of the parents of MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, who was expelled from the Servant of the People faction. This was stated by the prosecutor during a court hearing on the choice of a preventive measure against Yurchenko on September 21, a Gordon correspondent reports.
According to the prosecutor, on September 16, the gun was on the passenger seat of a Lexus LX 470 near the house of Yurchenko’s parents in Brovary district, Kyiv region.
«During the inspection of the car, it was found that there was an object similar to a weapon — a pistol and a mobile phone — on the passenger seat… There was no information on the receipt of firearms or registration of a device for shooting rubber bullets in the permit system for Yurchenko,» the prosecutor said.
MP Yurchenko comments on information that he stole beer from a store 11 years ago
Non-factional MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, who is suspected of bribery, called fake the information that 11 years ago he was detained for stealing four bottles of Staropramen beer from a Kyiv store. He said this to a Radio Liberty correspondent near the Verkhovna Rada building on September 29.
“This is one of those fakes that have fallen on me now, and I will soon refute it so that everyone understands that this information is not true,” the MP said.
Yuriy Butusov, the editor-in-chief of Censor.net, reported that Yurchenko was detained in 2009 for stealing beer from the Kashtan store in Kyiv.
Petty scandals
On June 23, 2016, during an offsite meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Preventing and Combating Corruption in the village of Kotsiubynske, unknown persons punctured the wheel of Oleksandr Yurchenko’s car.
On July 15, 2019, Yurchenko held a press conference at the UNIAN agency, where he disclosed the facts of the creation of a so-called “grid” for bribing voters in the interests of his competitor in the constituency. According to Yurchenko, millions of hryvnias have been allocated for this scheme, and the vote of one voter is valued at one thousand. Kyrylo Fesyk, managing partner of Mitrax Attorneys at law, lawyer and consultant to Oleksandr Yurchenko, announced that he had filed relevant applications with the SBU and the National Police.
On July 20, the “Day of Silence,” Yurchenko was among the violators who did not remove their election campaigning from the streets.
On the day of the parliamentary elections on July 21, 2019, he filmed massive violations of the voting procedure, called the police and invited a film crew from the 1+1 TV channel.
Income and property
Until 2019, Oleksandr Yurchenko was not a subject of electronic declaration.
Declaration of property, income, expenses and financial liabilities for 2018.
In his 2018 declaration, Oleksandr Yurchenko indicated a third of the right to his father’s apartment in Kyiv with an area of 62.4 square meters (purchased in 1999), and his wife indicated a part of the right to his mother’s apartment in Kyiv with an area of 70.6 square meters. The spouses also included in the declaration the right to use Yurchenko’s father’s car, a SsangYong Kyron M200XDI (manufactured and purchased in 2008).
According to the results of 2018, Oleksandr Yurchenko showed income from the sale of real estate in the amount of UAH 1 million 17 thousand 900 and social assistance.
According to the candidate’s report on the expenditure of the election fund in the amount of UAH 1 million 939 thousand 600, all of it was formed by voluntary contributions from individuals.
By the end of 2018, Yurchenko’s savings were as follows: UAH 5 thousand in a bank account and USD 50 thousand in cash. USD in cash. His wife’s savings amounted to UAH 200 thousand in cash.
Declaration of property, income, expenses and financial liabilities for 2019.
According to the results of 2019, Oleksandr Yurchenko received an income of UAH 189 thousand 727: UAH 1,452 in social assistance, UAH 29 thousand from the SN party to pay for the costs of participation in training, UAH 156 thousand in deputy salary, and UAH 3,000 in remuneration from the Department of Youth and Sports of the Kyiv City State Administration for his contribution to the development of the youth movement.
Yurchenko’s wife received UAH 426,660 in 2019: UAH 416,340 — salary at Arterium LLC and Arterium Corporation, UAH 10,320 — social assistance.
At the end of the year, Yurchenko’s savings amounted to 50 thousand dollars. Yurchenko’s savings at the end of the year amounted to USD 50 thousand, and his wife’s — UAH 400 thousand, both in cash only.
Other assets did not change in 2019.
Summary
Yurchenko, like other MPs, loves money. By selling his legislative activities, he received “buns”, which greatly embarrassed the Servants faction. And the fight with Geo Leros only made the situation worse. In addition, illegal possession of weapons and petty shoplifting are unacceptable for an MP. Fortunately, Yurchenko left the faction.