“Pidrahuy” doesn’t abandon his own!
What is happening around this sanatorium is being carried out with obvious and numerous violations of the law, and what this godly project will actually turn out to be is known only to its initiators.
The scandal surrounding the Inter-Voyage Base for Sailors is rightfully considered one of the most high-profile political events of this summer. Indeed, City Council deputy Oleg Markov, brother of People’s Deputy and leader of the RODINA party Igor Markov, decided to speak out against People’s Deputy Sergei Kivalov (Read more about him in the article Sergey Kivalov. Godfather of Corruption and Justice), considered one of the most influential people not only in the city, but also in the country.
At the center of the scandal was the recreation center of the once world-famous Black Sea Shipping Company: the Inter-voyage base for sailors, which, as they say, has caught the eye of Sergei Kivalov’s structures.
Veterans of the Black Sea Shipping Company have long been fighting against attempts to take away what is almost the last valuable asset left to the company. But until now their protests have been a voice crying in the wilderness.
This material is dedicated to what exactly happened and is happening around the Inter-Voyage Base of Sailors, and why the Black Sea Fleet veterans call the attempts to develop the territory of the base nothing less than a “raider takeover.”
So, this story began in 2011, when the Odessa National Law Academy concluded a lease agreement with the State Property Fund of Ukraine for the buildings and structures of the Inter-Voyage Sailors Base.
We are talking about a 7-storey and 3-storey residential building, a 2-storey medical building, an administrative building, a club building, a canteen building, etc. The total area of the buildings leased out is more than 20 thousand square meters.
The details of this deal are a closely guarded secret, although some information has leaked to the press. In a conversation with journalists from the “Groshi” TV program on the “1+1” TV channel, the president of the Law Academy, Serhiy Kivalov, said that the buildings are rented for 1 hryvnia per square meter of area. The amount is ridiculous: the average market price for renting real estate in the Primorsky district of Odessa is about 120 hryvnia per square meter per month.
This fact alone, in our opinion, should have attracted the attention of the prosecutor’s office to what was happening at the Inter-Voyage Base of Sailors, which should have studied to what extent the interests of the state were observed when concluding this agreement. And if not, then the persons guilty of violating these very interests should be held liable for at least official negligence (Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, punishment – up to 5 years of imprisonment).
But the story of the Inter-Voyage Sailors’ Base is only beginning here. On October 11, 2012, the lessee demolishes one of the rented buildings – a medical building, the book value of which is about 4 million hryvnia. In fact, the lessee destroyed state property, which, of course, no one gave him any right to do. In other words, we are talking about a crime under Part Two of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provides for a punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 10 years.
Construction begins on the site thus freed up. Officially, it is about the construction of a church-parish school building, which is being carried out by the charity foundation “Student Church”. It should be noted that this foundation has no relation to the Inter-Voyage Base of Sailors, except that its co-founder is the president of the Law Academy, Sergei Kivalov.
From a legal point of view, the charity foundation simply came to an empty plot of land (after the destruction of the medical building) and began construction there. These actions also have a very specific qualification from the point of view of the Criminal Code: Part 3 of Article 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorized construction of buildings and structures on an unauthorized land plot), punishment – up to three years of imprisonment.
The latter, by the way, is a well-established fact. The absence of any documents for construction, as well as the right to dispose of the land plot, was stated by the Vice-Mayor of Odessa Kirill Shalamai and the State Inspectorate for Architectural and Construction Control. It was precisely because of the absence of these documents that the charitable foundation of Sergey Kivalov was ultimately forced to suspend construction work on the site.
So, at this stage alone we have counted at least three facts that have a very definite qualification from the point of view of criminal law. But law enforcement agencies are silent.
One of the versions of why the prosecutor’s supervision bodies were suddenly struck by a strange blindness was expressed by the city council deputy Oleg Markov. According to him, all the statements that he sent to the prosecutor’s office regarding the construction at the Inter-flight sailors’ base ultimately ended up in the Black Sea transport prosecutor’s office. And this body is headed by Rostislav Kryklivyy, the son of the Odessa city council deputy and vice-rector of the Odessa National Law Academy Mykola Kryklivyy.
But let’s return to the Inter-Voyage Sailors’ Base. If the Law Academy and the “Student Church” had managed to complete the scheme and finish the construction, the consequences for the base would have been dire. Most likely, one of these structures would have succeeded in getting the building recognized as their private property in court (just as the embankment near the dolphinarium was recognized as private property).
Then the owner of the building would have applied to the city council on completely legal grounds with a demand to allocate the land under this very building. Moreover, the area of the land plot could have been most unexpected: at the last session, for example, the owners of the former Vympel cinema building were given permission to lease 0.36 hectares of land, although the area under the building itself is five times smaller. And then on the leased land it would have been possible to build whatever the heart desires…
However, the resonance that the scandalous construction received thanks to the efforts of Oleg Markov, apparently prevented the implementation of this scheme. The initiators of the construction were forced to legalize the object. However, the way this was done is in itself a violation of the law.
To legalize the construction, they decided to use the 20th session of the Odessa City Council, which, very conveniently, was supposed to take place a few days after the construction had to be stopped.
Literally the night before the session, the agenda underwent some changes: in particular, a point was added to it about giving consent to the Student Church foundation to develop a project for the allocation of a land plot of 1.9 hectares on the territory of the Inter-Voyage Base for Sailors. The draft resolution was successfully adopted by the deputies. But there are nuances.
Firstly, the city council had no right to make such a decision in principle. The fact is that only those who have some property on the allocated plot, as well as state or municipal structures and religious communities have the right to develop such allotments. The private foundation “Student Church” has no relation to either the first, second or third.
If the City Council agrees to lease this land plot, then, according to the requirements of the law and, by the way, the Charter of the territorial community of Odessa, the lessee must be determined by the results of the competition. This is done so that the property of the territorial community is used as efficiently as possible, in particular, the budget receives maximum funds from this. However, in this case, the deputies ignored the requirements of the law and leased the plot to the “Student Church” without any competition, thereby committing an official crime. The Odessa mayor will commit exactly the same crime by signing this decision.
Secondly, even the procedure for making this decision was accompanied by violations. In particular, contrary to the requirements of the City Council regulations and Ukrainian legislation, cards of absent deputies were used when making this decision, which was recorded in numerous photographs and video recordings.
According to the chairman of the RODINA party faction in the Odessa City Council, about 10 cards were voted without owners that day. Considering that the draft resolution only received 70 votes with 61 required, this decision cannot be considered valid in principle.
In addition, the 20th session of the City Council made another decision in favor of the development of the Mezhreysovaya Base: this concerns the development of a detailed plan of the territories of this site. Such documents are usually used to legalize a construction project. The object needed by the developer is included in the detailed plan of the territory, as a result of which it becomes part of the urban development documentation.
The adoption of this decision also contradicts, if not the law, then at least common sense. The fact is that detailed plans of territories, according to the legislation, must supplement and clarify the provisions of the main urban development document – the General Plan of Odessa.
Which General Plan will specify this detailed plan of the territory? The current General Plan of 1989? But this document does not provide for any schools, even parochial ones, on the territory of the Inter-Voyage Base of Sailors: according to it, this area is defined as land for sanatorium and resort purposes. A new General Plan? But this document has not yet been adopted! How can its content be predetermined by developing the DPT?
General plan of Odessa. Scheme of existing use of territories
True, this will not be the first example of Odessa putting the “cart before the horse” and making the provisions of the General Plan dependent on previously adopted detailed plans for the territories. At one time, for example, architectural officials argued for the development of the park on Sakharov Street precisely by the fact that the City Council had previously approved a detailed plan for this territory, according to which a sports base would be built on the site of the park as part of preparations for the Eurobasket.
But let’s return to the Inter-Voyage Sailors’ Base. What is actually being built there – and what do they intend to build in the future? This question is a closely guarded secret. Perhaps when that very detailed plan of the territories, the development of which was authorized by the session, is discussed, a little more light can be shed on this question. For now, we are left to rely on indirect evidence and random slips of the tongues of responsible persons.
Firstly, it is worth paying attention to the area of the site allocated for the construction of the school: 1.9 hectares. For comparison, the buildings of the International Humanitarian University at the 5th station of Bolshoy Fontan, according to the Cadastral Map, occupy half as much area. The neighboring comprehensive school No. 38 fits into an area of 0.8 hectares – this includes all the sports grounds and other adjacent areas. What is it that they plan to place on the territory of the parish school that it took as much as 2 hectares of land?
Sergey Kivalov himself stated in the already mentioned program “Groshi”: there will be a “student town” here. The city’s architecture department says that, in addition to the church-parish school, an educational building of the Law Academy will be built on the site of the Inter-Voyage Sailors’ Base. Finally, the draft General Plan of Odessa also provides for the Law Academy facilities to be located on this territory – there is no talk of any church-parish schools there. And veterans of the Black Sea Fleet draw attention to a number of objects that are being built on the territory of the base that are not typical for a church-parish school: for example, a pit is already being dug for a swimming pool here…
There are different attitudes to the very idea of building a church-parish school on the territory of the Inter-voyage sailors’ base. One thing is clear: at present, what is happening around this sanatorium is being carried out with obvious and numerous violations of the law, and what the God-pleasing project will actually turn out to be is known only to its initiators.
