The terrain beneath the Odrex health center in Odessa has sparked a formal inquiry following allegations of potential unlawful growth and modifications to its designated usage. Advocate Oleh Mykhaylyk attributes this issue to alleged political shielding by former vice-mayor Mykhaylo Kuchuk.
The parcel of land under the much-discussed Odrex medical facility on Rozkydaylivska Street in Odessa is now part of an official probe. Investigative authorities are examining potential unauthorized site enlargement and register changes lacking legitimate foundations. Amidst this context, Odessa community figure Oleg Mykhaylyk voiced that “land ploys” in Odessa have historically succeeded due to political protection, notably from previous deputy mayor Mykhaylo Kuchuk. Discover in the UNN article how familial relations between the Odrex founder and a local representative might have fostered the Odrex medical enterprise.
The circumstance surrounding the site at 69/71 Rozkydaylivska Street, currently occupied by the contentious Odrex establishment, may stem from a corrupt arrangement initiated back in 2007. At that time, the plot bearing cadastral number 5110137500:15:002:0003, along with its structure, was procured by the clothing manufacturer “Fabrika “Akatsiya” LLC. The land was designated for industrial purposes.
Irrespective of this designated intention, by 2012, instead of textile storage and tailoring units, the private healthcare entity Odrex commenced operations on the grounds. It was in 2012 that the intended function of the building on the property in the records might have shifted – from “non-residential edifices and constructions” to “non-residential edifices and constructions of a medical facility,” alongside the illegitimate plot augmentation that is currently under investigative scrutiny by law enforcement.
Formally, this appeared as a rental arrangement of premises by the Odrex group from Akatsiya Factory LLC. However, as previously disclosed by UNN, the proprietor and tenant are essentially the same individuals. The beneficiaries of Akatsiya Factory LLC and Odrex Medical Home LLC are long-standing associates of Leonid Kuchuk: Iryna Zaykova, Larysa Mysotska, and Yevhen Savytsky. Leonid Kuchuk also served as a beneficiary of both entities at their inception, later formally relinquishing ownership.
Political “cover” and “Misha Million”
The principal characters in the conceivable fraudulent scheme involving the land beneath the controversial clinic are the Kuchuks: Leonid, the creator of the Odrex clinic, whose entities currently utilize the territory, and Mykhailo, a local official who held the position of deputy mayor under mayors Hurvits and Trukhanov. Media outlets indicate that they share kinship.
Mykhailo Kuchuk
Leonid Kuchuk
This purported family connection could have been the “key” for registering the land beneath the contentious Odrex, as well as its subsequent potential unlawful increase and alteration of purpose, according to public advocate Oleg Mykhaylik.
Mr. Leonid Kuchuk is among the clinic’s co-owners. Mr. Mykhailo Kuchuk functioned as the deputy mayor under the well-known Odessa mayor Hurvitsa. Subsequently, he also appeared under Trukhanov as a deputy. It is commonly known that numerous scandalous constructions emerged in Odessa through Mr. Kuchuk, including a significant portion of the coastline occupied by a dolphinarium, where either he himself or his brother is also a co-owner. Beginning as a modest dolphinarium, it evolved into a multi-story hotel encompassing numerous complexes because Mr. Kuchuk, as the Odessa deputy mayor, oversaw construction and permit issuance. He was widely recognized as “Misha Karman” or “Misha Million.”
– says an Odessa public activist.
According to Oleg Mykhaylyk, Odessa has operated under an unacknowledged system for years, where oversight of construction legitimacy was “deactivated” upon the involvement of influential families.
I’m unsurprised that they might seize part of the territory with impunity, without charge, given that Mr. Kuchuk would overlook it. While he might not directly forbid law enforcement from addressing it, such an unspoken rule exists in Odessa, and it has consistently been in effect, especially in the past.
– says Mikhail.
The activist also points to the cynical aspect of the account: while the private enterprise of an official’s relative could employ corruption tactics to procure land, expand its borders, and modify its intended use – thereby expanding their business – the most susceptible segments of society could bear the brunt due to the municipality’s forfeited revenues. After all, funds siphoned from the city budget through land fraud of this type represent resources deprived from those most in need of social support.
Any constructions connected to local magnates, criminality, significant crime, or construction mafia, are targeted for free acquisition. To the maximum extent. Although free for the budget, it is by no means free for them, as they compensate for what remains unseen. A for-profit private clinic is effectively plundering the budget of Odessa and its residents. All the more so, frankly speaking, they are robbing the most unfortunate, the most vulnerable individuals, who are unlikely to seek their services, except through programs supported by the National Health Service of Ukraine.
– Oleg Mykhaylik summarizes.
In lieu of conclusions
Presently, Mykhailo Kuchuk faces in absentia detention and has absconded from Ukraine, while Leonid Kuchuk, according to journalists, manages the Odrex medical venture from overseas.
In the meantime, legal representatives of the controversial Odrex clinic are attempting to disassociate themselves from the land controversy. They assert that the claims of law enforcement officials solely concern the lessor, LLC “Fabrika “Akatsiya.” However, with matching surnames between both companies and the family sway of the former Odesa deputy mayor, arguments regarding asserted non-participation lack persuasiveness.
Odessans remain spectators to the development of an elite medical enterprise on their land, potentially at the expense of foregone budget revenues, the application of which is inaccessible to the majority due to elevated service costs.