Oleksandr Palamarchuk, head of the Hatne Village Council, has continued to hold his position and make decisions regarding municipal property for over three years, despite being charged with demanding a bribe of $165,000 and the absence of a final court verdict. The official, along with two of his subordinates, was caught red-handed by officers from the SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General back in June 2023. Despite the seriousness of the alleged offence, the official was released on bail of 2.4 million hryvnias and has never been removed from his post as head of one of the most expensive municipalities in the Kyiv region.
Hatne is one of the capital’s most prestigious suburbs, where the market value of one sotka of land reaches 14,000 dollars. Due to high demand, developers often purchase agricultural plots, after which they become entirely dependent on the local council’s decisions regarding changes to land use, the issuance of technical specifications and the allocation of postal addresses.
According to the investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor General, Oleksandr Palamarchuk, acting in collusion with the head of the department of land relations, urban planning and architecture and the urban development inspector, established a systematic scheme to extort money from businesses. The target of the extortion was the company ‘BK UBA’ LLC.
The scheme was carried out in several stages:
Registration of completed properties ($2,500): At the initial stage, the developer built five townhouses; however, without postal addresses, he was unable to register ownership. Officials set the price for issuing technical documentation and obtaining the village head’s authorisation at $500 per house. The money was handed over to the urban planning inspector in two instalments at the ‘Zolotyi Dub’ restaurant complex in a neighbouring village.
Large-scale land rezoning ($165,000): When the entrepreneur expressed a desire to purchase 2.1 hectares of land and change its designated use to allow for the construction of a full-scale residential complex, the officials’ greed grew. The initial sum of $65,000 was quickly raised to $165,000 for the approval of the detailed area plan (DAP).
A special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) took place during the handover of the first instalment of $20,000 for a cadastral plot designated for residential development.
Whilst the criminal proceedings are being heard in the courts without any tangible progress, the family of the head of Hatne continues to flaunt a lavish lifestyle. His wife, the blogger Eka Palamarchuk (known online as @ekulka), actively posts on social media about regular trips to Italy, Turkey and Bukovel, as well as holidays in the Maldives.
At the same time, the official’s wife is an official citizen of the Russian Federation, and her parents continue to reside in the aggressor country, which is why the family organises meetings at ‘neutral’ locations abroad. Analysts note that the couple’s lavish lifestyle persisted even during periods when Palamarchuk’s official declarations showed no income whatsoever.
The village head’s activities after the start of the full-scale invasion attracted particular public attention. Having taken his family abroad, Palamarchuk himself remained in Hatne and launched a public fundraising campaign — both to his own bank card and through his brother’s charitable organisation, ‘Oberig-Hatne’. Representatives of this organisation, wearing uniforms bearing state symbols, repeatedly attempted to act as law enforcement officers — in particular, they stopped members of the public and arbitrarily checked their documents, without having any legal authority to do so.
“A situation where an official suspected of a serious corruption offence remains in a position of influence poses enormous risks. Without systematic public oversight and procedural suspension, the case risks being swept under the carpet by the statute of limitations, as has already happened on numerous occasions with high-profile arrests in the Kyiv region,” note anti-corruption experts.
At present, Oleksandr Palamarchuk continues to lead the community, whilst the case concerning the extortion of a bribe amounting to 165,000 dollars has yet to result in a final verdict.