Lviv officials clash with OCU cleric over his family’s restaurant empire

Family business of the OCU cleric in Lviv. Photo: Ye. Boiko

Yevhen Boiko, head of the executive office of the Lviv City Council, publicly accused “priest” of the OCU Andrii Kindzelsky of lobbying for BiNP-LTD LLC, a company currently locked in a legal battle with City Hall over two restaurants built with blatant violations. The “priest” confirmed that the restaurants belong to his family.

According to the official, Father Andrii is remarkably persistent in defending this particular business.“He’s been trying in every possible way to persuade the city to let these entrepreneurs – who have already deceived the community more than once – continue doing business as usual. Father Andrii Kindzelsky, I am convinced that your mission lies elsewhere – to care for human souls and to promote honesty and decency. And this is clearly not one of those cases,” Boiko remarked pointedly.

Kindzelsky, for his part, did not deny the obvious: yes, the restaurants are indeed his family business. But, as he hastened to reassure the public, he has “focused on the Church in recent years and stepped away from business affairs.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that an OCU “bishop” was taking money to register draft-dodgers as “clergy” of his eparchy.

Read also