Homa unlustrated
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to appoint Vasyl Khoma as head of the Sumy Regional State Administration last November came as a complete surprise to experts. Not only had Khoma never had any connection to the Sumy region, having worked in Kharkiv, but his background is, to put it mildly, ambiguous. Khoma served as the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration's staff under the head of the administration during Yanukovych's presidency. Mikhail Dobkin.
That his entry into Yanukovych's system was no accident is evidenced by the fact that Khoma was deputy head of the Kharkiv branch of the Party of Regions. To avoid being subject to lustration, Khoma resigned in November 2014, effectively becoming the only top official in the region not affected by lustration.
This proved useful when he was appointed governor of the Sumy region. Even the fact that Khoma's declaration contained numerous violations didn't hinder him. For example, the declaration Khoma submitted stated that his wife owns 90,2 hectares of agricultural land, yet he failed to specify the value of some of these plots. This is, to put it mildly, no small matter – some of the declared plots are worth over 5 million hryvnias. Furthermore, Khoma's wife, V.V., leases these plots to farmers at 10% annual interest, meaning the Khoma family's income from these leases amounts to over 500,000 hryvnias per year. However, the declaration contains no income, suggesting that the tenants are using the Khoma family's land free of charge.
The agrarian magnate Khoma's story doesn't end there. Since the Yanukovych era, he has been the chairman of the supervisory board and, in fact, the ultimate beneficial owner of PJSC "SAD" (registered in the village of Mala Rogan, Kharkiv Oblast), an agricultural producer. This enterprise uses approximately 1150 hectares for agricultural production. But here, interesting nuances emerge: OJSC "SAD" is an unusual enterprise: while serving as deputy chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Khoma managed (and clearly not without reason) to secure for PJSC "SAD" a lease on state-owned land at an extremely low rental rate (0,3% per annum).
The land in question concerns 700 hectares of perennial crops with a standard monetary value of approximately UAH 47 million, at a rate of 0.3%. The crops have now been partially cleared. SAD also received approximately 315 hectares of arable land with a standard monetary value of approximately UAH 12.7 million, as well as approximately 120 hectares of pasture with a standard monetary value of approximately UAH 770,000, at a rate of 0.3%. Thus, Khoma received a long-term lease of over 1000 hectares of state-owned land at a "super-corrupt" rental rate. The fact is that 0,3% per annum is laughable, as rates for such land range from 12% to 15%.
Simple budget losses calculated by subtracting the rent difference from the 12% minimum annual rate indicate budget losses this year amount to over 7 million hryvnias. Considering that this scheme has been in place since 2012, the total damage amounts to tens of millions of hryvnias.
Political scientist Yuriy Gavrilechko believes these are clear signs of corruption. "Former Party of Regions member and ally of Mykhailo Dobkin, now head of the Sumy Regional State Administration, Vasyl Khoma, who recently filed his income declaration, could well have become the focus of scrutiny from a number of domestic anti-corruption agencies. Which, unfortunately, are doing anything but real work. Even a cursory analysis of Khoma's declaration—including his Maserati, Audi, and Volkswagen, purchased in 2019 "suddenly and all at once," as well as watches worth almost a million hryvnias and a huge amount of cash (the domestic establishment doesn't trust banks, after all)—gives reason to doubt the Sumy Regional State Administration head's legitimate gains for all he declared. To substantiate this assertion, I will provide an archived copy of his 2020 declaration and an amended version for the same year. "The differences are quite revealing, by the way. And as for possible corruption, how else can one explain the fact that the company, it turns out, PAT SAD, of which Khoma is the beneficiary, managed to lease over 1000 hectares of land at an annual rate of 0,3% of the value—while the average rate for such leases is 12-15% per annum?" Yuriy Gavrilenko notes in his Facebook post.
"Even a cursory analysis of the declaration, in my humble opinion, should have prompted the anti-corruption authorities to closely scrutinize the head of the Sumy Regional State Administration. After all, we're talking about millions of hryvnias, which the state budget may have missed out on. Given the missing amounts in the declaration, this issue should be handled by the NACP, which is reviewing the documents. Moreover, both NABU and SAPO seem to have every reason to initiate an investigation: it would be interesting to know how land could be leased under such conditions. After all, if it turns out to be a 'minimization scheme,' everyone involved should be punished," the expert notes.
Incidentally, Khoma's interest in the land hasn't faded. In Sumy Oblast, the head of the regional state administration, Vasyl Khoma, is attempting to remove land belonging to the Agrarian Academy of Sciences from its balance sheet. The land in question concerns several thousand hectares of land owned by the Agrarian Academy of Sciences.
According to informed sources, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Office of President Zelenskyy, is in charge of regional policy, including overseeing the Sumy Oblast. "The desire to get at the land fund of the Agrarian Academy of Sciences is understandable. Vasyl Khoma is currently boasting to everyone that he's untouchable," a source in the Sumy Regional State Administration tells us.
Khoma the Aristocrat
There's another interesting case involving Khoma that's worth mentioning. Sumy Oblast Governor Khoma is a lawyer, and although he's currently suspended his legal practice, as recently as 2019 he was practicing law, using office space at the following address: 61057, Kharkiv Oblast, Kharkiv, Kyivskyi District, Gogolya Street, Building 13, Apt. 3. He personally noted this information, and it's contained in the Unified Register of Advocates of Ukraine. The area of these premises is over 100 square meters, and their value exceeds 7 million UAH. Furthermore, a multimillion-dollar company, whose ultimate beneficial owner is Mr. Khoma, is registered at this address: Kharkiv Regional Wholesale Market of Agricultural Products LLC and the Khoma & Partners Law Firm.
"However, Mr. Vasily Khoma's 2020 declaration contains no information regarding this property, which is used by the subject of the declaration. This should also arouse increased interest among anti-corruption officials, but...," the expert notes.
Interestingly, Vasyl Khoma, a native of the Kolomyia district, likes to show off his aristocratic status. According to his acquaintances, the governor owns an entire arsenal of hunting weapons (seven shotguns), valued at over 500,000 hryvnias. But Vasyl forgot to declare this in his asset declaration.
Khoma's watch collection makes him even more aristocratic. He owns a Breguet Classique 5707 le Reveil du Tsar and a Patek Philippe, both of which are among the most expensive three-hand watches in their class. But the crown jewel of the collection is the Franck Muller Cintree Curvex Chronograph 8880 CC AT, valued at UAH 972,000. The total value of the collection is UAH 2,129,000. But the most astonishing fact is that our dear Mr. Khoma models his watch preferences on the President of the Russian Federation himself, Vladimir Putin, as can be easily discerned by googling "Putin's favorite watch."
Khoma's family loves speed
A review of Khoma's asset declarations before 2019 gives the impression that he was close to the people and rode the metro with a million-ruble watch. However, it seems that in 2019, Mr. Khoma realized that he should let the serfs ride the metro, not public transport, and so in 2019, he purchased three cars at once: a Maserati Quattroporte for UAH 1,460,000, an Audi Q7 for UAH 1,700,000, and a Volkswagen Jetta for UAH 114,295. The latter, as is well known, is a people's car, but somehow Mr. Vasyl got it for a third of its market value. The total cost of the purchased cars was over UAH 3,2 million.
Khoma's wife has an even fancier car: she drives an Audi E-tron worth over 2,4 million hryvnias. Only millionaires can afford one. In fact, Khoma doesn't hide the fact that he's a dollar millionaire.
According to his declaration, he holds €649,464, USD 234,179, and UAH 5,704,000 in cash. However, Khoma doesn't like to keep his money in banks: depositing funds into bank accounts requires proof of origin, and this is where the governor and his family run into problems. With a small official salary and modest dividends, Mr. Khoma's family is forced to keep cash "under the table." This doesn't stop them from occasionally indulging in apartments in France, UAH 1,5 million cars, and a "simple" UAH 1 million watch.
It's worth delving a little into his biography. As is well known, Khoma served as Deputy Governor of the Kharkiv Oblast from 2010 to 2014, a highly respected position and, as it turns out, "well" paid. But in 2009, he worked at various companies. Interestingly, in 2009, the distinguished lawyer and entrepreneur Mr. Khoma earned a whopping 28,000 hryvnias in salary, or about 2300 hryvnias per month. In 2010, his life changed dramatically, and he was promoted to Deputy Governor of the Kharkiv Oblast, becoming a loyal servant of the Party of Regions and earning a "serious" salary: his total income over four years in this position amounted to approximately 320,000 hryvnias, or about 6500 hryvnias per month.
But it turns out that Mr. Khoma's real financial breakthrough actually occurred during his tenure as deputy governor (according to our sources, he was responsible for interactions with law enforcement agencies and allegedly had a share in all the high-profile cases closed). And after his dismissal, informed sources told us, he developed and implemented a scheme to launder proceeds from corrupt activities committed while serving in the civil service.
Our sources have informed us that, after his release, Mr. Khoma, through legal entities under his control, namely Kharkiv Geoinformation Systems LLC and International Consulting Company Partner LLC, has been laundering over 39 million hryvnias in gray income by receiving financial assistance from companies under his control. He also received a salary of 3-4 hryvnias per month from these same companies. Clearly, these financial transactions are illegal, but it appears Mr. Khoma has so far managed to conceal them from financial monitoring and tax authorities.
Be that as it may, since 2009, Mr. Khoma has earned a total of 876,000 hryvnias in wages, an average of 6700 hryvnias per month. He also successfully laundered over 39 million hryvnias, which he used to buy cars, watches, and weapons. We hope this story will attract the attention of law enforcement agencies, who will question Mr. Khoma about his scheme for laundering over 39 million hryvnias between 2015 and 2020.
"In general, if the current government were truly serious about combating top-level corruption (and the heads of regional state administrations fall into this category), then Khoma would have at least received a visit 'for a chat' immediately after his declaration appeared on the NAPC website, or even been recommended for temporary suspension. But, unfortunately, this hasn't happened yet. However, Bankova Street should understand that even suspicions of corruption among top officials within the presidential chain of command have the most severe impact on the president's reputation and approval ratings. This, in turn, complicates the implementation of any reform initiatives the president may propose," expert Gavrilenko emphasized.
In the subject: Heads Rolling: Why Zelenskyy Has Launched a "Purge" of Regional Heads
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