HACC orders NABU to investigate Tkachenko's actions in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra case

The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has ruled that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) must enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations regarding possible misuse of budget funds by former Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko and his First Deputy Rostyslav Karandeyev. This was reported by Glavcom.

The application to NABU was submitted by the lawyer of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Representatives of the Lavra complained about NABU’s inaction after they filed a report on June 9 concerning possible offenses by officials of the Ministry of Culture and the National Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve.

According to the applicant, approximately 1.9 million UAH was misused, and an additional 29 million UAH was spent inefficiently. These actions are believed to be the result of a joint criminal intent between ministry officials and the leadership of the reserve. The complaint also states that these actions may constitute criminal offenses under Articles 191 (embezzlement) and 210 (violation of budget legislation) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Despite NABU’s refusal to initiate proceedings, citing insufficient grounds, the court ruled that these articles fall under NABU’s jurisdiction and ordered the bureau to enter the complaint into the registry and begin investigative actions.

Earlier, it was reported that during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy on June 4, 2025, Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Serhiy Biliaiev criticized the work of the Ministry’s commission operating at the National Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve since March.