13 million in Bitcoin, violations uncovered, and no penalties: The NACP has not audited DRS Chairman Kucher for 5 years
17 August 18:28
The National Agency for Corruption Prevention has not conducted any new comprehensive audits of the asset declarations of Oleksiy Kucher, head of the State Regulatory Service, over the past five years—following audits in 2019 and 2020 that revealed violations. Furthermore, the agency has not monitored the official’s lifestyle. This is stated in the NACP’s response to an information request from the editorial staff of “Kommersant Ukrainian.”
Based on the results of the audit of Kucher’s 2019 declaration, the NACP drew up a report under Part 4 of Article 172-6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and forwarded it to the Kyiv District Court of Kharkiv.
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At the same time, as the agency notes in its response, the NACP reportedly has no information regarding the content of this report, and the proceedings in the administrative offense case were subsequently closed.
“Based on the results of the court proceedings, the case regarding the administrative offense was closed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for imposing an administrative penalty at the time the case was considered,” the NACP stated.
Based on the 2020 declaration, the NACP reached a substantiated conclusion regarding the detection of signs of a corruption offense under Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. On July 28, 2021, this conclusion was forwarded to the NABU.
The basis for this, in particular, was Kucher’s crypto assets (Bitcoin worth over 13 million UAH at the time of the audit), for which he was unable to provide a public crypto wallet address.
Currently, the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) notes that on September 1, 2021, NABU informed the agency that it had transferred its conclusion regarding jurisdiction to the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kharkiv Oblast. On September 6, the police reported that the information had been entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (ERDR).
At the same time, as “Kommersant Ukrainian” previously reported, the Kharkiv police closed this criminal case in May 2023 “due to the absence of the elements of a criminal offense.”
Separately, given the previously identified violations and the absence of any legal consequences for the official, the editorial staff asked the NACP whether the agency had subsequently conducted new comprehensive audits of Kucher’s declarations and whether it had monitored his lifestyle.
“No comprehensive audits of the asset declarations for other reporting periods submitted by O.V. Kucher were conducted, nor was his lifestyle monitored,” the NACP replied.
Previously, the NACP had also sent a directive to the Cabinet of Ministers demanding that an official investigation be conducted regarding Kucher and that the issue of his disciplinary liability be considered. However, as reported by “Kommersant Ukrainian,” the Cabinet of Ministers, in its response to the editorial office’s inquiry, noted that no official investigation had been conducted.
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According to his latest declaration, Kucher continues to report crypto assets. Their value is estimated at $5.15 million.
As a reminder, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption conducts full audits of only 0.15% of all submitted declarations each year .
