{"id":370,"date":"2024-04-28T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/?p=370"},"modified":"2024-10-24T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T12:22:12","slug":"yak-anatoliy-kurtiev-kolyshniy-ochilnyk-pryfrontovoho-zaporizhzhia-zasluzhyv-na-pozbavlennia-voli-rozkradav-humanitarku-ta-zlyvav-biudzhet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/yak-anatoliy-kurtiev-kolyshniy-ochilnyk-pryfrontovoho-zaporizhzhia-zasluzhyv-na-pozbavlennia-voli-rozkradav-humanitarku-ta-zlyvav-biudzhet\/","title":{"rendered":"How Anatoliy Kurtiev, the former head of frontline Zaporizhzhia, deserved to be imprisoned: He stole humanitarian aid and \u201cleaked\u201d the budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What Anatoly Kurtev officially owns<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did Zaporizhzhia Mayor Anatoliy Kurtev really steal humanitarian aid?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Anatolii Kurtiev drained Zaporizhzhia’s budget during the war<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What connects Anatoliy Kurtiev, the former acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, with the aggressor country of Russia?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 24, 2024, the Secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, Anatolii Kurtiev, who had been acting mayor for the past three years, addressed<\/a> President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a request to establish a city military administration in Zaporizhzhia. In his letter, Kurtiev convinced the head of state that the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, was putting pressure on the city hall and trying to \u201csingle-handedly seize power in the city.\u201d But this did not help: on the same day, April 24, 38 members of the Zaporizhzhia City Council unanimously voted<\/a> in a secret ballot to remove Kurtiev from the post of City Council Secretary and acting mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it really the \u201cpolitical coup\u201d that Kurtev claimed in his letter to the president? Perhaps so. But, judging by the information gathered, the former head of the city of 750,000 people deserves not only resignation, but also a substantial prison term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIvan Fedorov, the head of the ZOVA, falsely accuses me of involvement in illegal actions in my position as secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council. I hereby inform you that Fedorov’s statements are untrue, and therefore I am always ready for any checks and cooperation with law enforcement agencies,\u201d Kurtev wrote to Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it really groundless? Let’s find out. The story is that before becoming the head of Zaporizhzhia, Anatolii Kurtiev, with his medical education as a pediatrician, worked as a nurse, then as a nurse in the morgue, later as a doctor and deputy head of the Bureau of Forensic Expertise, and from 2014 to 2016 as the head of the Levaniv cemetery. After that, he returned to the Bureau of Forensic Expertise, where he was appointed head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2015, Kurtiev tried to become a deputy of the city and regional councils from the UKROP party, but failed. But in 2020, under the brand of the Servant of the People party, his dream came true – Kurtiev became not only a deputy, but was also elected secretary of the city council. When Mayor Volodymyr Buriak resigned in the spring of 2021, Anatolii Kurtiev became acting mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not even close to being a very profitable place. According to Kurtiev’s declaration, for example, for the entire year of 2023 as mayor, he received only 565 thousand hryvnias, or an average of about 47 thousand hryvnias per month. Not much to go around. But this is only official. How many different opportunities for earning money does the position of mayor offer? Especially during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officially, Kurtev is perhaps the poorest official in the country, a hero for the TV series \u201cServant of the People.\u201d According to his declaration<\/a>, he owns only a small house of 29.7 square meters in an industrial district of Zaporizhzhia and a 42-meter apartment that his mother gave him in 2013. He also owns two plots of land: one in the village of Strohanivka measuring 2,500 square meters, and a larger one of 7.81 hectares on the territory of the Botiyivka village council, which he inherited from his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the entire period of his work for the state, Anatoliy Kurtiev never indicated in his declarations that he had any cash savings. That is, he lived from paycheck to paycheck. And when you see a photo of Kurtiev’s house, you will probably think: what a \u201cpeople’s mayor\u201d, living like an ordinary Ukrainian in such a modest home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The house officially decorated by the former head of Zaporizhzhia Anatoliy Kurtiev<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did Zaporizhzhia Mayor Anatoliy Kurtev really steal humanitarian aid?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But can we really believe it? NABU detectives found out where the head of Zaporizhzhia actually lived in the summer of 2022 when they searched his apartment. Kurtiev rented an elite apartment in the center of Zaporizhzhia at 52 Shkilna Street with his assistant Vladyslav Pavliuchenko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Anatoly Kurtev (back) and his assistant Vladislav Pavlyuchenko (front). Photo: ZTR<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is noteworthy that none of his declarations contain an entry about renting an apartment and the amount of money he spent on it. And this is not the only thing that Anatoliy Kurtiev concealed from the authorities and society. The Toyota Land Cruiser 200 car he used during his years as a city councilor did not appear in his declaration. This car belongs to the municipal institution Avtogosptsentr, which provides services for the Zaporizhzhia City Council on a sublease basis. The only thing is that this sublease was paid for, most likely, not by Kurtev, but by the Zaporizhzhia city budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there was no mention in the acting mayor’s declaration of more than UAH 9 million that NABU detectives found in Kurtiev’s apartment. More precisely, 600 thousand hryvnias, 230 thousand dollars, and 650 euros in cash. Kurtiev’s assistant tried his best to convince law enforcement and the court that it was his money, but he could not prove how he could have legally obtained it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In addition to money, a bag of white powder was found in the apartment of the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So where did the couple who ran the city get the money? The NABU reasonably believes that the secretary of Zaporizhzhia City Council stole humanitarian aid from international partners to residents of frontline Zaporizhzhia. Literally in the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officials appropriated 22 sea containers, 389 railroad cars and 220 trucks with humanitarian aid from Europe, which they then sold through business entities under their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European humanitarian aid was later seen in ATB and Silpo supermarkets, and in the Optima and Low Price Pharmacy chains. The fact that cashiers did not issue receipts when selling these goods, citing the lack of cash registers, made it clear that it was humanitarian aid. At the same time, appeals from residents of Zaporizhzhia for assistance remained silent and unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outrageous? Disgusting? Yes, it is. And it is very strange how Kurtev served almost 2 more years as mayor of Zaporizhzhia after that, and how he was not convicted of this in 2022, when it became known. Criminal proceedings No. 52022000000000137, opened on June 14, 2022, were transferred<\/a> by the NABU to the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine at the end of 2023, which outraged<\/a> local journalists, who said it looked like they had decided to \u201cbury\u201d the case in this way. Indeed, neither the NABU nor the police reported whether Annatoliy Kurtiev was notified of suspicion of embezzlement of the humanitarian aid. So far, Kurtiev has only lost his position as the head of Zaporizhzhia, but continues to sit quietly in his chair as a deputy of the Zaporizhzhia City Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Anatolii Kurtiev drained Zaporizhzhia’s budget during the war<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that, in addition to the theft of humanitarian aid, he has a number of other stories that should have him in jail, not in the city council. And they are all related to the \u201cdrain\u201d of budget funds to different parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, it is unknown what happened to the UAH 1.2 million that Kurtev allocated for the repair of the basement. The tender was held for the \u201cright\u201d company, Montazhni Systemy: when this company failed to win the tender the first time, Kurtev canceled it and announced a new one, which was won by the right one. Why is it unknown where the money went? Because the signed agreement does not specify any addresses or what kind of work is to be done – somewhere and something, why do you need to know about it? As local journalists found out<\/a>, this was not the first such \u201cphantom\u201d contract – before that, Montazhnye Systemy had already done repairs in a kindergarten that had been out of business for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, in 2023, Kurtiev spent<\/a> UAH 1 million on the production of signs with the inscription \u201cShelter\u201d to Tetiana Petrun, an individual entrepreneur who registered as a sole proprietor exactly three months before the Zaporizhzhia authorities, with obvious signs of corruption, awarded her the contract without bidding. At the same time, the mayor’s office spent money on paving<\/a> in an industrial low-traffic area in the Shevchenkivskyi district, on purchasing super expensive coffee<\/a> for officials, and on the functioning of the Zaporizhzhia airport, which was not working during the war – 86 million hryvnias annually were \u201cmerged\u201d with the idle airport<\/a> under Kurtiev’s signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirdly, Anatoliy Kurtiev also accumulated cash at home from the reconstruction of buildings damaged by Russian missile attacks. For example, 147.7 million hryvnias were spent on the restoration of an apartment building at 151 Sobornyi Avenue, with prices for materials and work overstated<\/a> by at least 14 million hryvnias: paint strippers were bought 11 times more expensive than on the market, and crushed stone and aerated concrete blocks were almost twice as expensive. In his defense, Kurtev claimed<\/a> that \u201crestoring a house is more expensive than new construction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And fourth, another corruption scandal involving Anatoliy Kurtiev is the creation of the Municipal Guard, for which the city council spent UAH 10 million, bought cars for it, but never obtained<\/a> a security license. Or maybe it did not plan to, the main thing was to use the budget funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, the entire period of Kurtiev’s tenure in Zaporizhzhia City Council during the war seemed to be a time when \u201cnot because of, but in spite of\u201d the war. Activists and deputies only had time to react to the \u201cmerger\u201d of the city budget into corrupt, dubious deals that were completely inappropriate during the war. In response to Anatoliy Kurtiev’s arbitrariness and policy, some deputies even resigned their deputy powers early in protest: Mykola Belyi did so in September 2023, followed by MP Oleksandr Konstantinov in December of the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials, outraged that the mayor’s actions were directed against the interests of the Zaporizhzhia community, also filed complaints against Kurtiev’s activities. The deputies said<\/a> that Kurtiev was deliberately blocking their work and preventing them from resolving important issues for the frontline city. Kurtev’s months-long sabotage of the issue of financial support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine was particularly outrageous: the city council secretary clearly did not want to give money to a place where he would not be able to use it. But it is equally likely that this sabotage had an ideological basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What connects Anatoliy Kurtiev, the former acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, with the aggressor country of Russia?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fact is that Anatoly Kurtev has two brothers. The first one, Viktor Kurtev, was elected<\/a> in 2010 as a deputy of the Partenitsky village council in Crimea from the Party of Regions. When the Russian Federation annexed the peninsula in 2014, Viktor Kurtev did not hesitate for long and already in April 2014, the first month of illegal passport issuance, he received Russian citizenship. It is likely that he still lives and works for the occupying country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kurtiev’s brother took a Russian passport almost as soon as Russia annexed Crimea<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second brother of the former head of Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Kurtiev, lives in Ukraine, but regularly boasts of Soviet Union insignia on his social media, which also clearly characterizes his political views. Anatolii Kurtiev himself, while already serving as acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, has repeatedly expressed his gratitude for the assistance of the foundation of pro-Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi, who is currently under sanctions and publicly sympathizes with the Russians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Zaporizhzhia MP’s second brother sympathizes with the Soviet Union<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it was not only the thirst for personal enrichment that pushed Anatoliy Kurtiev to corrupt deals with the Zaporizhzhia budget, to steal humanitarian aid and sabotage aid to the Armed Forces. Perhaps there is something more disgusting behind this, such as collaboration with the enemy? As of today, these are theories, but there is no doubt that it would be appropriate for law enforcement to check them out. Just as it would be worthwhile to bring the criminal proceedings on the theft of humanitarian aid for Zaporizhzhia residents to court. In times of war, simply resigning from office is a very weak punishment for such a thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the information gathered by Osint Global, the former head of the city of 750,000 people deserves not only resignation but also a substantial prison term. The NABU reasonably believes that the secretary of Zaporizhzhia City Council stole humanitarian aid, embezzled budget funds for tenders to dubious companies, and has a brother with a Russian passport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publichni-rozsliduvannya"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osintglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}