Loaded with cash: some Ukrainian officials have forgotten about UAH 3.8 billion of their income
4 February 2025 18:37
ANALYSIS
In every second of the audited declarations for 2024, inaccurate information was found. And this is after checking declarations for the last few years. Moreover, the amount of unjustified income is growing every year. "Komersant Ukrainian" analyzed why Ukrainian officials are no longer afraid of being held accountable for lying in their declarations.
According to the NACP, 353 declarations revealed inaccurate information worth UAH 3.8 billion, signs of illicit enrichment worth UAH 192.1 million, and unjustified assets worth more than UAH 47 million. And this applies to declarations for several years. In 2024, the NACP monitored the lifestyles of 167 declarants. And 42 officials had property and assets in their declarations that they could not afford to pay for, totaling about UAH 740 million. At the same time, in 2023, 553 declarations were checked and 47 revealed facts of illicit enrichment worth more than UAH 598 million.
Last year, based on the results of the monitoring, the NACP served notices of suspicion under Art. 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Illegal enrichment” for a total of more than UAH 650 million:
- head of the Central Food Supply Department of the Logistics Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
- to one MP of Ukraine;
- chief Inspector of one of the divisions of the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine;
- head of the Main Department of Capital Investments of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine;
- head of the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Carpathian District;
- heads of the Dnipropetrovs’k District TCC and one of the district TCCs and JVs of Odesa. Odesa;
- the former head of the SBU’s Main Department of Internal Security.
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They do not live on one salary
There’s no doubt about it, the work on preventing corruption is in full swing. Recently, we checked the lifestyle of the head of the territorial service center of the RCC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and it turned out that it is impossible to buy so much on one salary. And the official’s family acquired movable and immovable property worth almost UAH 20 million from 2021 to 2023. In March 2022, the official purchased five apartments in the Georgian resort cities of Batumi and Bakuriani. The total area of the properties ranges from 37 to 87 square meters, and their cost is from USD 30 to 82 thousand. The total value of these acquisitions exceeds UAH 7.19 million.
After the fact, after the head of the SBU’s Economic Support Department was caught embezzling budget funds allocated for the purchase of fuel by more than UAH 26 million, 70 thousand US dollars and 40 thousand euros, which is more than UAH 4.4 million in hryvnia equivalent, were found and seized during searches. The NACP checked his declaration and found signs of illicit enrichment worth more than UAH 27.7 million. In particular
- an apartment in Kyiv worth more than UAH 4.4 million, registered in the name of an acquaintance
- five business class cars;
- 5 real estate objects, 4 of which are located in the Pechersk district of Kyiv for a total amount of over UAH 13.8 million
- several land plots in Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv regions totaling UAH 235 thousand.
Neither the official, nor his family members, nor close and related persons had sufficient financial status to acquire these assets.
Several decisions on civil forfeiture were also made by the HACC Appeals Chamber. These include the recovery in favor of the state of almost UAH 7 million of unjustified assets of a SBI employee and his wife, a prosecutor of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor’s Office, and more than UAH 2.4 million of a former deputy head of one of the customs posts of the Odesa Customs.
Pretense, not fight
But what is striking is that every year the welfare of officials, which they are actively trying to conceal, is growing. And if we compare by year, the appetites have also increased: last year, 42 officials’ declarations revealed property and assets that they could not afford to pay for, totaling about UAH 740 million, and a year earlier, 47 officials had assets worth “only” UAH 598 million.
The situation with government corruption in Ukraine has worsened in recent years, says Oleksiy Bahanets, former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. And this is very noticeable in the results of the work of the authorities in detecting and investigating corruption crimes.
“In 2023, law enforcement agencies completed pre-trial investigations in only 70% of cases of bribery – not on the fact of officials receiving a bribe, but on the fact of bribery. And the bribes were mostly given by vehicle drivers who wanted to pay off the police or customs officers. That is, most of the materials concern those who wanted to pay off. It’s all about pretense, an imitation of the fight against corruption. This is not a fight against corruption,”
The real “terry” corrupt officials feel more at ease and unpunished than ever, and that’s because law enforcement agencies have been purged of professionals over the years, Baganets believes. Today, they are unable to identify or prosecute corrupt officials. This is because law enforcement agencies have recruited people from the street, without knowledge, experience or desire. But there is no political will to fight corruption today either.
“All the current high-profile detentions of corrupt officials are for ‘suckers’. Although it’s not nice to say so, Ukrainians can be easily deceived, and they are,”
– emphasizes the lawyer.
And corrupt officials have stopped looking back at inactive law enforcement agencies. It is not surprising that their prosperity is growing year after year. According to a recent NACP study, both the public and business consider political corruption, for example, in the Verkhovna Rada and the government, to be the most serious type of corruption: 80.2% of the population and 76.8% of business representatives called it a “very serious problem”.
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Author: Alla Dunina
