When filing their financial declarations, the top brass of the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) go out of their way to demonstrate unprecedented modesty. A review of the financial statements of the current Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Sevruk, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleh Zalisko, Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios, Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stolyarchuk, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Roman Govda, Deputy Prosecutor General and Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office Nazar Kholodnytsky, and Head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Artem Sytnyk reveals nothing but salaries, no housing, and cars that are decades old.
The families of prosecutors have more property. The record holder in this regard is Anatoly Matios, whose wife owns a million-dollar fortune.
Some of the named individuals clearly overdo it with modesty, such as Artem Sytnyk, who reported a salary of approximately 7 UAH for 2014, and the eligible bachelor Nazar Kholodnitsky still hasn't acquired his own home.
Overall, the picture is standard: the "face" of the GPU's top brass is poor, everyone lives on one salary, and denies themselves everything. Meanwhile, those responsible for important anti-corruption and other tasks are demonstrating an increase in their well-being.
Not a poor falcon, Yuri Sevruk
The income declarations of the current Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Sevruk, demonstrate enviable stability. His income is high, his apartment is spacious, and his bank account is substantial. It should be noted that since Sevruk was appointed First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine in July 2015, his income has increased significantly. According to his income declaration, last year he earned just over 517 hryvnias, 409 of which was salary, and the remaining 108 hryvnias was interest from a savings account.
Sevruk's substantial bank account is striking – almost 598 hryvnias. He had almost the same amount in 2014 (621 hryvnias) and in 2013 (just over 573 hryvnias). Sevruk's family members also have a bank account with 651 hryvnias. The family's total income last year was almost 392 hryvnias.
In 2014, first as deputy head of the department for oversight of law enforcement by internal affairs agencies at the Prosecutor General's Office, and then as head of the Main Department for Oversight of Criminal Proceedings at the Prosecutor General's Office, he declared an income of 370,5 hryvnias. Of this, almost 270 hryvnias was salary, and almost 105 hryvnias was dividends and interest from deposits.
In 2013, Sevruk wasn't exactly broke either. His salary as deputy head of the Department for Oversight of Law Enforcement by Internal Affairs Agencies at the Prosecutor General's Office, which he then held, earned him around 325 hryvnias a year, plus another 88 hryvnias in interest on his savings.
Thus, the entire budget for 2013 amounted to approximately 413 thousand hryvnias.
Sevruk is listed as the owner of a 104,5 square meter apartment. It's noteworthy that Sevruk, who reportedly disclosed information about the Prosecutor General's Office allegedly allocating two official apartments to Vitaly Kasko ( read more about him in the article "Vitaly Kasko – swindler, corrupt official, "shot down pilot" ), one of the key contenders for the post of anti-corruption prosecutor, also received the apartment in question from the state.
There are no cars in the family.
Resort lover Oleg Zalisko
According to his income declaration, Oleh Zalisko leads a rather modest lifestyle. But this is only at first glance. Last year, he earned just over 396,000 hryvnias, which is his annual salary as Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. Compared to previous years, he doubled his income.
Thus, in 2013, Zalisko declared 174 thousand hryvnias of annual income, which consisted entirely of wages, and in 2014, almost 206 thousand hryvnias, which consisted of wages (203 thousand hryvnias) and interest from a bank deposit of almost 83 thousand hryvnias.
Read also: Why changes in the Prosecutor General's Office are impossible: The judicial and prosecutorial quagmire – children, friends, godparents
As we can see, the dizzying career leap from department head in the Lviv Oblast Prosecutor's Office to Deputy Prosecutor General in just three months has a positive impact on his income.
After his appointment to the Prosecutor General's Office, Zalisko continued to save money in his bank account. Last year, he deposited 73 hryvnias.
In 2015, the family earned just over 136 thousand hryvnias—all income from entrepreneurial activity.
He owns a 44 square meter apartment and rents another 60,5 square meter apartment for 49 hryvnias per year. The family also owns a plot of land covering almost 12 hectares. Previously, Zalisko's vehicle fleet included a 2007 Lexus ES35, but by 2015, the deputy prosecutor general no longer had the car. Zalisko's wife drives a 2008 INFINITI EX35.
However, a castle with a swimming pool and guest house in an elite area of the spa town of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, located on a 1,6-hectare plot of 520 square meters, worth two million dollars, is for some reason not listed in Oleg Zalisko's asset declaration.
The deputy also has funds for charter flights to Europe on a Cessna Citation XLS, which costs approximately 10 euros per hour. The prosecutor's family flies frequently, as evidenced by photos from the social media page of Zalisko's fourteen-year-old daughter, Agata.
Oleh Zalisko also failed to declare a three-room apartment in a new building in the capital, which, according to available information, he acquired late last year. On the developer's website, the property is valued at 2,260,000 hryvnias.
Rich Mr. Barakh
Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios also lives on his salary alone. His salary is, in fact, decent – last year, 2015, he earned almost 411 hryvnias. This is double his income in 2013 (203 hryvnias) and 2014 (slightly over 264 hryvnias).
Matios's real estate listings include two plots of land, measuring 0,0965 hectares and 0,0606 hectares, as well as a 182,6 square meter country house. The 101.5 square meter apartment declared in 2014 has disappeared—no profit is listed as income from property alienation. The dashing soldier's means of transportation is a ten-year-old Chevrolet Lacetti, purchased for 64,000 hryvnias.
However, this modest allowance is clearly far from the only "crumbs" the Chief Military Prosecutor "survives" on, as he can afford many things in life, such as a two-week winter vacation on the Alpine slopes for more than his annual salary. Perhaps the vacation is sponsored by Anatoly Matios's wife, Irina Barakh?!
Her income, as disclosed in her declaration, is far more interesting. According to Irina herself, they met 12 years ago, during Matios's time working at the Kherson Oblast Prosecutor's Office, and only married in 2014.
The business of the wife of Ukraine's chief military prosecutor is located in Kherson. She is the founder and ultimate beneficiary of at least six enterprises, primarily related to the agricultural sector. Iryna Barakh's main enterprise is Tavriyskaya Perspektiva, which is the founder of most of the companies within the prosecutor's family's business structure.
According to her asset declaration, the Kherson businesswoman owns millions in assets, bank accounts, and luxury real estate. In 2015, her total income exceeded 33 million hryvnias, most of which came from her business activities. Iryna Barakh also owns a house, two apartments, and other real estate with a total area of approximately 850 square meters, as well as nearly 17 hectares of land. All of the properties are located in prime locations. For example, a 518-square-meter cottage is located in the village of Kozyn in the Kyiv region, adjacent to the estates of the Klyuyev brothers and Petro Poroshenko. Barakh's apartment is located in an elite residential complex on Lyuteranska Street, where a three-bedroom apartment with a view of Khreshchatyk costs $1,5 million. Against this backdrop, the military first lady's fleet of vehicles looks very modest: a 2008 Nissan X-Trail, an old 1992 ZIL MM34502, and a container trailer.
To set the record straight, the private Irina Barakh even gave an interview, assuring everyone that the marriage was for love. Indeed, Matios himself stated on the 112 Ukraine TV channel that "his relationship with a woman is not based on money." That may be true, but as the saying goes, love comes and goes, but hunger is always there.
Wealthy "pensioner" Yuri Stolyarchuk
Yuriy Stolyarchuk nearly doubled his income last year. As his biography reveals, he resigned from the prosecutor's office in 2004, officially due to retirement for length of service. Therefore, before his return to the Prosecutor General's Office in 2014 as Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Supervision of Criminal Proceedings of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Stolyarchuk's income amounted to one pension, but it was far from average.
In 2013, Stolyarchuk's pension and entire annual income amounted to 126 hryvnias. In 2014, his pension of 120 hryvnias was supplemented by his salary of 100 hryvnias.
In 2015, already serving as Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, he earned just over 428 hryvnias, almost 400 of which was salary. Stolyarchuk's family income last year was quite modest—only about 53 hryvnias.
The Deputy Prosecutor General owns one apartment of 78 square meters. Neither he nor his family has any savings in the bank. Stolyarchuk is also apparently a big fan of Honda cars – he owns two: a 2003 Honda Civic and a 2007 Honda FR-V. However, according to his asset declaration, he allegedly purchased the former for 50,000 hryvnias, although the average market value of such a car is approximately 150,000 hryvnias. The latter cost Stolyarchuk 130,000 hryvnias, although its average price is 350,000 hryvnias.
"The Poor Relative" by Roman Govda
Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Roman Govda's income increased proportionally with his career advancement. In 2015, Govda earned over 375 hryvnias, his annual salary. This is double his salary in 2014 (238 hryvnias) and in 2013 (over 290 hryvnias). Govda owns a 450 square meter plot of land. However, the Deputy Prosecutor General has yet to acquire housing.
( More about him in the article by Roman Govda: How a prosecutor became a fixer )
The prosecutor's wife, Kateryna Dobrovolskaya, is a different story. She, incidentally, also worked as a prosecutor until recently. In 2014, she declared an income of 176,000 hryvnias. In 2015, her income dropped significantly, to 31,000 hryvnias. However, she is not short on property. She owns two plots of land totaling over 600 square meters, one of which was acquired last year, and a house of 84,3 square meters. It's worth noting that back in 2013, Dobrovolskaya only owned a 48-square-meter apartment. In subsequent years, she acquired both the house and the two plots of land. Govda and his family also own a 2011 Renault Megane.
Crystal-clear anti-corruption prosecutor Nazar Kholodnitsky
The declaration of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Nazar Kholodnytsky, was under close scrutiny during the competitive selection for leadership positions in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
The assets he declared for 2014 were not comparable to those of other applicants in terms of salary, total income, or the amount of movable and immovable property. In 2014, his income consisted solely of salary and amounted to just over 145 hryvnias. This is almost double what he earned in 2013 (79 hryvnias) while working in the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office.
In 2015, thanks to a promotion, Kholodnytskyi further improved his financial situation. Last year, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor earned almost 324 hryvnias in income, also entirely from his salary.
In terms of property, he has nothing particularly noteworthy here either. He owns two plots of land, one 1000 square meters and the other 1200 square meters, as well as a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander.
According to his financial statements, Kholodnitsky owns no home. After this information was made public, questions arose about the newly minted anti-corruption crusader's whereabouts. He then revealed that he was single, hence the family income column, which was blank. He lived in a modest apartment in his parents' suburbs, which he inherited from his mother and which he had not yet registered as his own.
However, in March of this year, Kholodnitsky entered into the right of inheritance, and therefore the apartment itself is expected to appear in the declaration next year.
But Kholodnytskyi's sister, Anna, is not short of property. According to blogger Sergei Ivanov, in March 2016, she inherited a 183,6-square-meter apartment in the village of Sofiyivska Borshahivka in the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky district, in the "Lvivsky Maietok" residential complex. The price per square meter in this new building ranges from 10 to 12 hryvnias, so the entire home of the anti-corruption prosecutor's sister could be worth between 1,5 and 2 million hryvnias. Anna Kholodnytskyi also owns another apartment in Lviv, inherited from her parents, as well as two plots of land measuring 0,1122 and 0,15 hectares in the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky district of the Kyiv region, which she acquired by chance precisely when Kholodnytskyi himself was working in the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky district prosecutor's office.
At the same time, according to Nazar Kholodnytsky, he has no connection to his sister's apartments, and he had no right to include them in his declaration, since, firstly, she does not live with him, and, secondly, she spends most of her time outside of Ukraine.
Chief Ascetic Artem Sytnyk
Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, outdid everyone in his ability to demonstrate unprecedented modesty. In his 2014 income declaration, he clearly overdid it, reporting approximately 7 hryvnias in salary. He explained this by saying he had no time for work during the year of the Maidan. He also received just over 118 hryvnias from the sale of property. It turns out that throughout 2014, Artem Sytnyk lived off his wife, who earned just over 118 hryvnias.
In 2015, Sytnyk's financial situation clearly improved. He now earns just over 906 hryvnias per year. His family members' income last year was more modest – just 45 hryvnias. The NABU head's bank account holds almost 39 hryvnias. He owns an 82-square-meter apartment and a 2012 Hyundai Elantra. His wife, however, doesn't own a car but owns a 416-square-meter plot of land.
In connection with the above, Prosecutor's Truth has several questions:
How do the GPU leadership and its deputies survive without their own homes and cars?
— How does Oleg Zalisko live in luxury and acquire luxury real estate in Ukraine and abroad?
— How did Govda's wife, despite holding a low-ranking position, acquire more property than the Deputy Prosecutor General?
How did Artem Sytnyk manage to survive on a salary of 7 hryvnias a year, and why were discrepancies in his declaration overlooked when he was appointed head of the NABU?
On topic: Nazar Kholodnitsky. Chief of Corruption or Chief of Anti-Corruption?
Prosecutor's Truth
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