Sumy Regional Council Deputy Aleksey Romanko involved in corruption schemes
Oleksiy Romanko was elected as a regional council deputy for the Servant of the People party after the 2020 local elections. Romanko started out as a forest worker at a forestry enterprise in the Shostkinsky district. However, he later became an entrepreneur and the director of Satel Plant, a private company specializing in sawmilling.
After gaining a deputy mandate, the entrepreneur decided to expand his business. By the end of November 2021, he and fellow party member Alexander Slyusar founded SEVER GROUP AGRO LLC. The enterprise's main activity is grain crop cultivation.
Just three months after the company was established, the Russians launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and fighting broke out in the Sumy region. However, this did not hinder the 'agrotsar' at all – during the past year, 'NORTH GROUP AGRO' acquired over 100 land plots in the Shostka district of the region.
According to the registers, the deputy's family acquired 118 plots totaling 226 hectares of land. Of these, 37 plots were privately owned by Romanko's brother's wife, Marina. Another 36 plots were purchased by the deputy's 23-year-old niece, Natalya. The deputy's mother, Tatyana Romanko, owns the largest number of land plots – she has 45 plots totaling over 85 hectares. The relatives immediately leased the acquired land to 'NORTH GROUP AGRO'.
Previously, this land belonged to the local community. However, from autumn 2021 to winter 2022, the land was divided into approximately 2-hectare plots and provided free of charge to various individuals for operating a 'personal peasant farm.' Subsequently, all the plots were resold to Romanko's relatives almost simultaneously and in an organized manner. The entire purchase and sale process was carried out without the involvement of individuals to whom the land was supposedly allocated according to documents. In reality, the same individuals, through notarized powers of attorney, promptly sold the land plots to the 'king's' family. There is strong reason to believe that the businessman acquired these assets for a very low price by abusing his parliamentary powers.
Let's delve deeper. During his two years as a deputy, Romanko purchased six real estate properties in Kyiv for a million dollars. Six months after his election, he acquired two apartments in Kyiv for $100,000. Even a full-scale war did not dampen the 'king's' enthusiasm: Romanko continued to make real estate purchases, including commercial space in Pechersk and two more apartments in a new residential complex near the Livoberezhnaya metro station. The deputy registered one property in the Riverstone residential complex for his mother, spending approximately 850 thousand dollars in total.
