From facing prison to an office in the Regional Military Administration: Former prosecutor Oleksandr Kharlov was promoted after the €3 million Graff robbery

22 серпня 2023 р., 15:08

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From facing prison to an office in the Regional Military Administration: Former prosecutor Oleksandr Kharlov was promoted after the €3 million Graff robbery

Truly strange appointments take place within the walls of the Odesa Regional State (Military) Administration. As it became known, Oleksandr Kharlov became the deputy head of the RMA Oleh Kiper.

This was reported by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnychuk, on August 19 in his Telegram channel. Odesa has not yet known a more scandalous appointment.

It is interesting what reasoning the central government of our country used when approving Kharlov’s appointment to such a responsible position, especially during the war? The whole point is that this character should not be sitting in the deputy chair of Odesa RMA, but should have long been behind bars.

The fact is that on August 20, 2014, at that time, the first deputy prosecutor of the Pechersk district of Kyiv, Oleksandr Kharlov, organized a brazen robbery of the "Graff" jewelry store. On that unfortunate day, prosecution employees stole 2.5 million euros in gold and diamonds from the store. And most interestingly, after the robbery, Kharlov not only did not receive any suspicion of committing a criminal offense, he was promoted and worked successfully in the prosecution offices until December 2019.

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After being dismissed, he took up law practice. And already in early 2022, he attempted to sit in the chair of the head of the Kyiv Department of the Economic Security Bureau. We wrote about it at the time. But, either common sense or Russia’s full-scale invasion disrupted his plans. And now the criminal Kharlov is in the chair of the deputy head of Odesa RMA. A significant fact in this situation is that this appointment took place exactly nine years after his robbery of a jewelry store. Let’s recall, the robbery happened on August 20, and the information about his current appointment was announced by Taras Melnychuk on August 19. A kind of gift on the anniversary of the "Graff" robbery.

Doesn’t it seem to you, gentlemen from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, that this appointment is not only a slap in the face of our President, who is traveling all over the world to procure weapons for the defense of our country, but also an open slap in the face of the entire Ukrainian people? Let’s remind you, there is a war in our country, and you appoint the most desperate scoundrels and criminals to key positions.

In the summer of 2014, 2.5 million euros worth of gold and diamonds were stolen from the "Graff" jewelry store in Kyiv. This crime caused a wide public outcry, as the organizers turned out to be employees of the Pechersk prosecutor’s office in the capital. Three criminal cases were opened against the employees of the Pechersk district prosecutor’s office, who were conducting "investigative actions" regarding the fabricated criminal case that was closed shortly after the search due to lack of evidence, for the theft of jewelry, appropriation of property, forgery, abuse of power, and official misconduct.

All employees of the Pechersk district prosecutor’s office in Kyiv involved in the robbery of the jewelry store received suspicions for crimes stipulated by part 5 of article 185 of the Criminal Code (theft) and part 3 of article 365 of the Criminal Code. But to this day, none of them has received real punishment for the crime they committed. Moreover, according to a decision of the Kyiv Commercial Court, the owners of the "Graff" jewelry store will receive a compensation of 25 million hryvnias from our country’s state budget. Will the citizens of Ukraine pay for the crime committed by prosecutors?

One of the leading roles in the "robbery of the century" was played by the at-that-time first deputy prosecutor of the Pechersk district of Kyiv, Oleksandr Kharlov, at whose request the Kyiv prosecutor signed the search warrant. Later, probably for "special services" to the state, Kharlov was promoted and obtained the position of head of the supervision office in criminal proceedings in the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office. Only before the New Year, in December 2019, Kharlov submitted a resignation letter on his own will, following his leadership. This fact is confirmed by his declaration, published on the NAPC website with the mark - "before dismissal".

It turns out that for almost 6 years after the jewelry store robbery organized by Kharlov, he calmly and quite successfully, according to his declaration, held high positions in the prosecutor’s office instead of receiving deserved punishment for the committed crime. As the Criminal Code of Ukraine states, theft committed on a particularly large scale or by an organized group is punishable by imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with confiscation of property. And there is certainly plenty to confiscate from Kharlov, he did not commit the robbery of a jewelry store for nothing.

The aggrieved party repeatedly appealed to Yuriy Lutsenko, who at that time held the position of General Prosecutor, demanding an unbiased investigation into the shameless and cynical robbery of the jewelry store by Pechersk district prosecutor’s office employees. But they never received any reaction from the General Prosecutor, and the criminals in uniform remained at the governmental trough. And only after a change of power did hope arise that former prosecutor Oleksandr Kharlov and his organized crime group would be held criminally accountable with the full severity of our country’s legislation and receive deserved punishment. We hope this publication will not remain unnoticed by the current General Prosecutor of Ukraine Ruslan Riaboshapka, who persistently announces reforms in prosecution offices. We, for our part, propose that the General Prosecutor familiarize himself with two video materials and the article text published a year after the jewelry store robbery on the pages of one of the authoritative Ukrainian publications, with the names of all involved officers.

Law enforcement officers suspected of robbing a jewelry store in Kyiv during a search have not yet been punished.

The case of the jewelry store "Graff" robbery during the search by law enforcement is still under investigation. The Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office does not act: neither investigative nor covert actions are conducted, therefore the stolen items have not yet been found. Also, the fighters of the special unit "Sokol", who are suspected of being involved in the robbery, are not held accountable.

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Our publication recalls that on August 20, 2014, in the "Graff" store, as well as in the premises of prosecutor’s office employees, the police of the Pechersk district of Kyiv, which are not related to the store, the "Sokol" special unit fighters carried out an illegal search, during which money, watches, jewelry total exceeding 2.5 million euros were stolen. This "search" was captured by surveillance cameras.

At that time, General Prosecutor Vitaliy Yarema publicly apologized to the store owner, but threats rained down on the search participants!

On August 25, 2014, a criminal case was opened against employees of the Pechersk district prosecutor’s office in Kyiv Kozlov P.B., Savchuk V.V., employees of the Pechersk district police department Zabuha V.V., Zhdanov O.M., Artsyukh R.M., Kobernyk R.V., Tsehelnyk V.I., on suspicions of committing a robbery. Kozlov and Zabuga were arrested, but not for long — the bail amounts were reduced, and they were released. The same story happened with suspects Artsyukh and Kobernyk. Former policeman Tsehelnyk, immediately upon receiving the suspicion, joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The stars of the video — fake witness Volodymyr Filonenko, who masterfully hid diamonds in his underwear, former employee of the Pechersk district police Mariya Vasylyeva, who meticulously selected herself watches, jewelry, like her colleague Oleh Vitko, disappeared. Their colleagues from law enforcement were unable to find them for a year. The reason for that is only known to prosecutor investigator Viktor Avdyeyev, who was handling the case.

Additionally, only he can explain why neither witnesses nor suspects were interrogated, no expertise was conducted, and for what purpose he methodically dismantled the case. One might speculate he was trying to save the suspects from punishment. By the way, he previously knew many of them and was friends with some on social media.

During the investigation, it became clear that back in May 2014, Kozlov, in 3 days, falsified a case against the "Graff" store, where, allegedly, a group of unknown individuals was selling counterfeit goods, including those made from radioactive materials. On this basis, under the signature of Judge Kateryna Sereda, Kozlov received a search warrant.

As a result, the case "about counterfeit watches" was closed due to the lack of crime components, but no one investigated for whom and for what purpose the search was necessary. This is not surprising, given that Kozlov’s patrons — at that time prosecutor of the Pechersk district Oleh Vasylyev and his deputy Oleksandr Kharlov, who gave Kozlov instructions regarding the search, weren’t not only involved in the case, but also received promotions. Currently, they hold leadership positions in the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office. And the then Kyiv prosecutor Serhiy Yuldashev and top officials of the Pechersk district police: Bondarenko V.V., Lytvyn D.A. (who provided his pocket witness Filonenko), Kravchenko R.M. - all are involved in hiding the looted.

"The Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office does not act: no investigative or covert actions are conducted, therefore the stolen items have not yet been found. Also, the fighters of the special unit "Sokol" are not held accountable. But here is a completely absurd fact: policeman Kobernyk R.V., who received a suspicion and was sitting in the detention center, is still not dismissed from the authorities (?!)", — emphasizes the publication.

The result of a year-long investigation: the looted items are not found, all suspects are released, and the court is constantly rescheduled. Released Pavlo Kozlov and his patrons — O. Vasylyev, O. Kharlov, S. Yuldashev, using influential connections, pressure the investigation, trying to divert attention from the crimes they committed, despite the fact that there are at least 10 more complaints from victims against Kozlov P.B. in the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office.

Thus, it turns out that the entire fight against corruption, lustration, and reforms of law enforcement agencies are merely fiction: real criminals are still reliably sitting in their offices, doing everything to retain their convenient positions. If this powerful criminal group within the law enforcement agencies is not punished, what kind of reforms are we talking about at all? The final disclosure of the "Graff" store robbery and then punishing all guilty could and should become a groundbreaking moment for the whole country!", — the article says.

PS. By the way, Kharlov is not one of those prosecutors who can sit without a "feeder" for long, which means he will soon emerge in a new, "fatter" position. Or will he be imprisoned? We will find out the answer to this question soon.

Ihor Andryeyev for "ORD"

Anton Babych

Editor

Coordinates the work of the editorial team and is responsible for the timeliness of publications. Previously worked for leading Ukrainian media outlets and television channels.