One of the long-livers of Ukrainian politics became a defendant in an investigation into a land scandal.

People's Deputy Andrei Derkach's entourage ended up with 42 hectares of protected land between lakes Koncha and Zaspa, the value of which reaches tens of millions of dollars, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

This is stated in the investigation. program “Our pennies with Denis Bigus”.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

It is noted that Derkach has been in the Verkhovna Rada for 21 years and during this time he has changed five parties and political associations.

It is reported that over two decades of his career, the parliamentarian became the richest people's deputy from the Sumy region, and his assistants acquired 41,5 hectares of land between lakes Koncha and Zaspa.

The investigation indicates that, according to real estate experts, the maximum price is 50 thousand dollars per hundred square meters, and the minimum depends on how this project will be positioned - from 10 to 20 thousand dollars per hundred square meters.

“Formally, almost 42 hectares of this precious land belong to four individuals. Three of them have strong ties to the family of People’s Deputy Andrei Derkach. 7,5 hectares - Yuri Berk. He has a joint business with Derkach’s wife Oksana Terekhova and Derkach’s assistant Dmitry Kovalchuk,” the publication says.

It is noted that Elena Mironyuk still has almost 4 hectares. Her husband is also a former assistant to People’s Deputy Derkach.

The authors of the investigation note that the largest amount of protected land, almost 26 hectares, belongs to another current assistant of Derkach, Anton Symonenko, who has been working in this position for three terms. And before that, Anton’s father, Alexander Simonenko, was the people’s deputy’s assistant.

It is reported that it was to Anton Simonenko that Andrei Derkach rewrote 2016% of the corporate rights to his media assets in 90: the Era TV channel and the Era FM radio.

The investigation indicates that Anton Simonenko refused to answer the question about the origin of 26 hectares of land between lakes Koncha and Zaspa.

The Obukhov district state administration gave the protected 42 hectares into private hands in 2010.

“Then 42 hectares were divided into 23 parts for 23 people who were supposed to conduct personal farming here,” the publication says.

“Among the 23 people who received land for free at the first stage, even then there were predominantly Derkachiv personnel. A group of employees of his Era shopping mall, a group of assistants to the people’s deputy, representatives of Derkach’s partner companies, and the like. Including two current owners, Simonenko and Berko, who later accumulated plots from other “peasants,” the authors added.

According to journalists’ calculations, of the 23 people who received this land in 2010, at least 17 were from Andrei Derkach’s circle.

It is noted that the current RGA says that they did not know about the allocation of this land to private individuals and consider it a crime.

Derkach himself was outraged by the interest in the land and his assistants.

“Assistants came to me and said: “They’re running around with cameras, asking questions. I have nothing to do with this land, period,” said the people’s deputy.

It is reported that in response to the program’s written request about relations with the four current owners of the valuable tract, the people’s deputy forwarded a letter from the lawyer of all four landowners.

In the letter, the lawyer refers to the fact that this land was leased to Leader LLC in 2002 for 49 years. Then Leader LLC “refused the lease in favor of the village council and expressed a desire to transfer part of the land in accordance with the current legislation for private farming to individual citizens.”

The investigation indicates that the current owner of Leader LLC is Yuri Berko, the already mentioned business partner of Andrei Derkach’s wife, who now owns a piece of valuable land.

It is reported that in the late 90s and early XNUMXs, Derkach had close ties with the second president Leonid Kuchma; they were called godfathers. Also, Derkach, along with Vadim Novinsky, is one of the most famous political lobbyists of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Let us note that the Bigus investigation itself is of a politically biased nature, since Andriy Derkach is presented to the general public as “the deputy who helped Zelensky dissolve the parliament.” In the current reality, such rhetoric plays into the hands of the forces behind Petro Poroshenko in the information field. In addition, the appearance of this material during the pre-election period may be associated with the struggle for the majority district in the Sumy region, from which Derkach was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for several convocations in a row.