KNU Rector Volodymyr Bugrov bought an apartment in an elite housing complex in Kyiv: investigation

KNU Rector Volodymyr Bugrov

Facebook of Volodymyr Bugrov

Volodymyr Bugrov, who will be rector of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University from 2021, has purchased luxury apartments in the White Lines residential complex in Kyiv.

Currently, a similar two-room apartment costs more than 200 thousand US dollars, writes “Investigation Info“.

Journalists of the publication got access to the contracts, which testify to the fact that the rector of KNU signed the real estate for himself.

The agreement concluded in the fall of 2020 states that Volodymyr Bugrov purchased bonds that could be exchanged for square meters after the completion of the construction of the residential complex.

At that time, he was the vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work of the university. Both in the declaration and in the documents received by Slidstva Info, there are 7,444 bonds worth 231 hryvnias each, which makes a total of 1.7 million hryvnias. This amount corresponds to the nominal value of the bonds.

However, investigators claim that Bugrov actually paid much more for the bonds – his expenses reached almost 3.5 million hryvnias, which, at the exchange rate of 2020, is equivalent to about 124 thousand US dollars.

“According to the terms of the contract, Bugrov had to pay almost all of this amount within nine days. In a comment to the journalist of “Slidstva. Info” the rector confirmed that he deposited funds into the account on time”, – they write in the publication.

Journalists tried to find out where Bugrov got the money for such housing. Analysis of the declarations proved that the rector did not have the funds to purchase an apartment. During 2020, his family earned 1.3 million hryvnias.

During the meeting, the rector was unable to explain to the journalist the origin of the funds, and later he completely refused to answer the question, saying that he was interfering in his personal life.

In addition, Bugrov ne declared his right to the object of unfinished construction: he indicated only the available securities, but did not indicate the amount he spent on the apartment.

Vadym Valko, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Center, calls this a sign of a corruption offence.

“There is an explanation of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP), which states that if the subject of the declaration has acquired securities for an object of unfinished construction, then it is necessary to indicate both the object itself and the securities” , Valko noted.

He notes that there is a potential violation of Part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (declaration of false information). Punishment under this article includes a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.

In general, the rector of the Kyiv National University, Volodymyr Bugrov, is not the first to fall into scandals.

Previously, Volodymyr Ksenich, a former student of the university toldthat the rector promotes the development of corruption, continues cooperation with companies that have ties to Russia, and does not care about fire safety at the university.

In February 2022, to the rector threw up that he allegedly offers female students, teachers and members of his team to engage in sexual contact with him and shares intimate details.

However, Bugrov himself denied this fact. According to him, he did not have any sexual relations with female students or employees of the university, and the correspondence was falsified and distributed in order to deprive him of his position. He assumed that his competitors could do it.

Also in September 2023, the management of the higher education institution blamed in the embezzlement of funds allocated for the repair of bomb shelters in student dormitories and the purchase of generators.

The National Police and the SBU inspected two dormitories and recorded violations that, according to preliminary findings, caused losses to the state in the amount of one to two million hryvnias. However, Bugrov said that he considers such accusations groundless.

In addition, recently the rector of KNU became a laureate award “Academic Dishonesty 2023”, taking second place in the nomination “Toxic Rector 2023”.