The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) appealed to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) with a claim to recognize as unjustified assets belonging to the head of the Khmelnytskyi Department of the State Migration Service in the Khmelnytskyi region and a member of his family and to confiscate them as state revenue (civil forfeiture).
The basis for this was the results of lifestyle monitoring by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAPC) and information obtained by the Territorial Administration of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in the Khmelnytskyi region.
During the monitoring, the NAPC established that between 2021 and 2023, a family member of the official acquired ownership of a shopping centre in one of the villages in the Khmelnytskyi region, which included mixed-use shops, cafes and office premises. In 2024, a 52.7 sq. m. apartment was added to the shopping centre. The total area of the building is 913.8 sq. m. The cost of the ‘purchase’ amounted to UAH 13.7 million.
The agency analysed the income of the employee and his family member and concluded that it was impossible to acquire the specified assets from legal income.
In view of this, the SAPO filed a lawsuit with the HACC to recover part of the value of the specified asset in the amount that does not correspond to legal income, i.e. over UAH 7.3 million, to the state. At present, the property has been seized.
The assets may be recovered in favour of the state in accordance with Article 290 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine.
It should be noted that, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine ‘On Prevention of Corruption,’ a person authorized to perform functions of the state or local self-government, in respect of whom a court decision has entered into force recognizing assets as unjustified and ordering their recovery to the state, is subject to dismissal from office in accordance with the procedure established by law.
