The Svyatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv has placed an arrest order on a real estate complex owned by LLC MTR Management Ukraine, located at 10-A Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska Street. The ruling was issued following a petition by the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BEB) as part of a criminal investigation into the large-scale misappropriation of state-owned hydraulic structures. The court banned any sale, division, or change of ownership for the property, which is linked to the family of former National Bank of Ukraine Governor Yakiv Smolii.
Under the court ruling, the seizure applies to a 1,480.8-square-meter property complex that includes a public catering complex, a security checkpoint, and a separate 1,106.3-square-meter confectionery workshop building.
In addition, two state-owned hydraulic structures were found to have been retroactively added to the firm’s property registry entry:
Mooring Embankment (GTS-1050): 151 running meters in length, constructed in 1968.
Bank Protection Structure (GTS-1051): 37.5 meters in length, constructed in 1988.
According to investigators, the case stems from the privatization of Ukrrichflot during the 1990s. The assets of the former state enterprise Torgrichflot were eventually transferred to a Swiss-Ukrainian joint venture, which later evolved into LLC MTR Management Ukraine.
BEB detectives emphasize that under 1990s legislation, port facilities, piers, and shoreline protection structures were strictly non-privatizable and could not legally be contributed to a private company’s charter capital.
As of December 2020, official registry extracts for the address listed only the canteen and security checkpoint. However, by July 2024, the 151-meter pier and shoreline protection structure were added to the private firm’s property record. Law enforcement classifies this as illegal acquisition of state property and document forgery under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
«The hydraulic infrastructure was never legally included in the charter capital of the company. Consequently, there were no legal grounds for it to become a private asset,» investigators stated in court filings.
LLC MTR Management Ukraine is majority-owned by Octava Capital (85%) and Svitlana Smolii (15%), the wife of former NBU Governor Yakiv Smolii. Business executive Oleksandr Kardakov is listed as the ultimate beneficial owner in public records.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy Governor of the NBU in late 2013, Yakiv Smolii transferred his business assets to his wife. Svitlana Smolii currently holds stakes in several major businesses, including Aval-Trans, Novoodeskyi Elevator, Naberezhna-Invest, and Torgrichflot. The criminal investigation remains ongoing.