16.03.2025 Investigations Kharkiv

How the corrupt duo of Melnyk and Volyk “squeeze” the property of Kharkiv citizens and community

Отримав посаду, але не покарання: як Дмитро Волик уникає відповідальності за корупцію | Варта Баварії

Dmytro Sergiyovych Volyk is one of the most scandalous officials of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, who, despite numerous accusations of corruption, continues to hold the position of Head of the Notary Department in the Kharkiv Region of the Notary Department of the Eastern Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Together with his godfather, Kharkiv lawyer Valentyn Melnyk, they built a system of intimidation and extortion of state registrars, which allowed the men to subordinate the schemes of “black registrars” and manipulation of community real estate.

In view of this, there are no questions about the shadow sources of funds for the purchase of two residential buildings with a total area of 232 sq.m. and 42.5 sq.m., an apartment with an area of 76.8 sq.m., two cars – a 2020 Toyota Highlander and a 2015 Nissan Leaf (and this is only a part of the declared property). At the same time, we wonder how much the official income of the official is and why the civil servant himself cannot explain how he got such a significant property?

In the next parts of the investigation, we will tell in detail what property the man is hiding abroad and who is registered as the owner of Volyk’s undeclared assets and business.

Lawyer Melnyk: what is known?

Valentyn Melnyk is one of the most famous Kharkiv lawyers in terms of participation in corruption schemes, which provide him with incredible opportunities to manipulate legal processes and real estate registration.

Melnyk is an associate professor of law at the Humanities and Law Faculty of the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”. However, during his work at the university, the man has not given a single lecture and has never appeared at the department. His educational activities ended with a successful deferment and formal presence on the list of the department’s faculty.

In addition, V. Melnyk provides a team of human rights defenders free of charge to support his godfather Volyk D. S. in court cases, which allows the latter to avoid any responsibility for years.

Melnyk’s sphere of influence does not end with state registrars and local departments of the Ministry of Justice. He also has connections and influence in the Kharkiv JCCC and JV, Kharkiv Regional State Administration, and Kharkiv Regional Council. So, it is not surprising how the man can so easily “solve” any issues in the city and, most importantly, put pressure on citizens.

Melnyk is responsible for numerous schemes related to mobilization, raiding and illegal influence.

Many citizens contacted us after the publication of materials about lawyer Melnyk and his law firm. Citizens actively wrote that the man constantly violates the rules of legal ethics: he uses his status to influence citizens by setting favorable conditions for himself. In addition, there were also reports of disclosure of attorney-client privilege, including in cases related to registration actions, which we have already begun to investigate.

How does the pressure scheme from Melnyk and his godfather Volyk work?

A simple example that explains this process.

  1. A client applies to lawyer Melnyk V.V. with a request for a registration action. Melnyk immediately offers his services at a price that is three or more times higher than the market price. The client refuses to pay such inflated amounts and goes directly to the state registrar.
  2. V. Melnyk learns about these actions, either on his own or on the warning of his partner, O. Yeletskyi. Later, the lawyer contacts his godfather Volyk D.S. and, at the same time, the head of the notary department in Kharkiv region of the Notary Department of the Eastern Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice. Together they “solve the problem” with a registrar who decided to work outside their scheme.
  3. Melnyk V.V. and Volyk D.S. come to the registrar who has simply done his job and put him to a choice. Either pay a monthly “tribute” in dollars to avoid troubles in the form of disciplinary inspections, restrictions on access to registries, or even criminal cases, or lose their position or experience serious problems at work.
  4. Those who agree to the corruption scheme receive “guarantees” that include job security and even the possibility of promotion. At the same time, Melnyk ensures that “his” people occupy key positions, in particular among registrars. This gives him even more control over the registration process and the opportunity to make money at every step.

The list of registrars controlled by Mr. Melnyk is currently quite extensive. In particular, it includes:

  1. State Registrar of Dergachiv City Council of Kharkiv Region, Serhii Zotkin.
  2. Oleh Zhbadynskyi, State Registrar of Malodanylivka Village Council of Kharkiv District, Kharkiv Region. Ihor Teslenko, State Registrar of Solonitsynivka Village Council, Kharkiv District, Kharkiv Region.
  3. Iryna Romanyuk, State Registrar of the Solonitsiivka Village Council of Kharkiv District, Kharkiv Region.

The Ministry of Justice has already imposed restrictions or suspension of powers on each of them, such as temporary blocking or revocation of access to the registers. However, these decisions of the Ministry of Justice were successfully challenged in court by attorneys of Melnyk & Partners Law Firm, so the registrars quietly returned to their duties despite the fraud.

After the publication of the first part of the article about lawyer Melnyk and Ministry of Justice official Volyk, we began receiving letters from citizens who had become victims of the actions of registrars controlled by men. In the vast majority of cases, it was about falsification of information in the registers, entering false information about the area of objects. Therefore, we are sharing with you examples of situations where the group’s corrupt interests were most clearly expressed.

Manipulations with changing the area of an object in Pesochyn

In February 2024, private notary Shakhmatova I.V. registered a contract of sale of an unfinished construction project – a non-residential building at 1B Kononenko’s entrance, Pisochyn. However, a month later, on March 28, 2024, the state registrar Zotkin S.V. registered this object as completed construction with an area of 515.4 square meters without any permits from the SACI.

On April 25, 2024, the next registrar, I.A. Teslenko, made further changes, increasing the area of the facility to 728.4 sq.m. without providing any documents confirming that the changes complied with the building codes. The only document relied on by the registrars was a technical passport, which, according to the current legislation, is not a basis for making changes to the register.

Schemes of registrars to create new objects on paper

No less interesting are violations related to the registration of apartments. In September 2023, registrar S.V. Zotkin changed the data on an apartment at 42/4a Kandaurova St., Kharkiv, registering it as a two-room apartment with an area of 74.7 sq.m. instead of the original 26.8 sq.m. according to the purchase agreement.

All these changes were made possible without any permits from the SACI or other relevant authorities. Interestingly, on June 19, 2024, the registrar I.A. Teslenko changed the description of the property, formally turning the apartment into a three-room apartment, which once again indicates a violation of the law and abuse of his official position.

Despite the absence of the necessary documents, the duo of state registrars S.V. Zotkin and I.A. Teslenko continued to make false registration changes. Special attention should be paid to the coherence and coordination of actions taken on the instructions of Melnyk’s lawyer and Volyk, an official of the Ministry of Justice, who secretly exercise control over local state registrars.

How fake technical passports create new “apartments” in the center of Kharkiv

In 2017, the building at 2 Kharkivske Shosse was registered as a dormitory with a total area of 5,851.5 square meters. However, in May 2024, using fake technical passports received from EXPERT TECHNO GROUP LLC, state registrar I.A. Teslenko registered numerous apartments in this building.

All actions were carried out without any permits, without approvals from the architectural authorities, and without assigning the appropriate addresses.

Instead of confirming the legitimacy of the changes, the registrar simply used technical passports signed by the director of the LLC, Mr. Yeletskyi O.E.

Equally surprising is the way the authorities tried to turn a blind eye to these violations. In August 2024, the Kharkiv City Council filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine regarding the illegal registration actions of the state registrar I. A. Teslenko. But instead of considering and eliminating these violations, the justice authorities simply left the complaint without consideration. The reason for this was the claim that the complaint was filed by a person whose rights had not been violated, although in fact no law allows for the registration of apartments without the necessary documents and permits.

It seems that the deputy mayor of Kharkiv, Serhiy Kuzmin, who is responsible for urban planning, and the acting head of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, Andriy Kozlov, did not even try to cancel the illegal registrations. According to the sources, all actions were agreed in advance with Melnyk’s lawyer, so the reaction of the local authorities was more than predictable.

Given the above cases, we once again urge you to report any situations you know about falsification of information in state registers, the operation of “black registrars” and raider seizures of property under the cover of officials of the Ministry of Justice.

In the meantime, we continue to work. Thanks to our materials and media coverage of the problem, the Ministry of Justice has already conducted a number of desk audits, including of the aforementioned state registrar I. Teslenko. As a result, the official’s access to the State Register of Real Property Rights was revoked.

We continue to work and initiate inspections of each of the registrars controlled by Melnyk V.V. and Volyk D.S. We have already filed a statement about the commission of criminal offenses by the group and initiated the procedure for bringing them to justice. In addition, we are actively calling on the legal community to pay attention to the activities of attorney Melnyk and consider revoking his certificate due to numerous violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar”.

Did you witness a crime?

Let us know about it. We will help protect the violated rights!

Share the post:

Last news

ALL NEWS ALL ARTICLES