People's deputy from the Servant of the People party, chairman of the Subcommittee on Protection and Optimal Use of Subsoil Pavlo Yakymenko was suspected of facilitating the illegal obtaining of a permit for beryllium mining. We are talking about a company that is partly owned by his father, and mining is partly planned in the reserve.
At the same time, LLC "Perzhansk ore company" emphasized the transparency of the process of acquiring a special permit and the absence of political influence, because Yakymenko was not yet a people's deputy at that time, reports the Anti-Corruption Center.
As is known from the decision of the Korsun District Court of Zhytomyr, the National Police of the Zhytomyr Region is currently conducting a pre-trial investigation into the illegal issuance of a permit to use a beryllium deposit to the Perzhansk Ore Company, in which Yakimenko owns 8.3% of the shares.
According to the investigation, officials of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil, deliberately abusing their official position to obtain benefits for a legal entity in violation of the law, scheduled an auction for the sale of a special permit for the extraction of beryllium ores from the Perzhansky deposit of Olevsky District, Zhytomyr Region. This caused serious consequences, because part of the Perzhanskoye deposit – the Yastrebetske deposit – is partially located in the Poliskie Nature Reserve of national importance.
As the pre-trial investigation showed, the company purchased a special permit on April 22, 2019 on the "Prozorro.Prodazhi" platform for UAH 76 million. The company received the right to engage in geological exploration. However, such actions involve the removal of the top layer of soil, the passage of vehicles, etc. Such activities are prohibited in protected areas.
The company commented to the publication that it acquired the special permit transparently on the official platform "Prozorro.Prodazhi", and Yakymenko was not a people's deputy at the time.
As you know, he was elected a People's Deputy in the 2019 parliamentary elections held on July 21.
"We cannot talk about any political influence. The procedure for acquiring a special permit took place in compliance with all legal requirements, mandatory procedures and appropriate process accountability," the company emphasized.
They also drew attention to the fact that criminal proceedings were opened back in 2019, but a number of examinations and investigative actions did not confirm any violation. However, the terms of the pre-trial investigation continue for several years in a row.
The company emphasized that they do not plan to conduct their activities on the territory of the Polissky Nature Reserve. The licensed area of the field is only partially projected on the contours of the reserve, but the company does not operate in this area. The company is amending the special permit to waive part of the area that covers the reserve.
It is noted that another company in which Vitaliy Yakymenko also has a stake, Atomic Energy Systems of Ukraine LLC, is interested in three deposits with another strategic mineral, like beryllium, uranium. These are the Safronivske, Sadov and Severynivske deposits.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the detectives of the Security Service and the State Bureau of Investigation conducted searches at the facilities of a former People's Deputy and a Russian oligarch, who may be involved in billion-dollar corruption schemes in Ukraine.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported the suspicion to the ex-Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine during the time of President Yanukovych.
