“Pension-State” of the Atamaniuk Family: Father of Former Tax Police General Who Was Lustrated Becomes Owner of an Elite Estate in Kozyn and Business Assets Worth Hundreds of Millions

A luxurious estate totaling more than 1000 sq. meters on five land plots in Kozyn and million-hryvnia charter capitals of companies — that’s the kind of elite “package” carried by Ukrainian retiree Anatoliy Atamaniuk in his 81 year. Coincidence or not, this elderly businessman appears to be the biological father of lustrated tax police Major General of the Yanukovych era and ardent Lukashenko supporter Yuriy Atamaniuk.

This is reported by the publication "Telegraf"

Paradise for the “elite”

You can encounter all kinds of owners of luxury housing in Kozyn. Next to a White House–style palace of Petro Poroshenko, the estates of scandal-plagued intelligence officer Serhiy Semochko’s family rise up. It was in this settlement that NABU is unfolding a case about laundering hundreds of millions in the cottage town “Dynasty,” and it was here that the mansion of the disgraced Ilya Kiva was found.

Journalistic investigations also show that Kozyn has become a favorite haven for retirees of every stripe. The editorial team recently examined a similar case, showing how capitalism under the red flag was built by the 72-year-old former Communist Party MP Yuriy Haidaiev.

And here’s a fresh story: the 81-year-old and previously unknown retiree Anatoliy Atamaniuk suddenly turned out to own real estate located in an elite settlement on five plots at once.

Extracts from the State Register of Property Rights show that the elderly businessman launched a genuine construction foothold in the builders’ association “Obriy-K” on Lisova Street. The property complex was registered in several stages: first, on 1 September 2020 he acquired a gigantic residential building with an area of 721,3 sq. m under a purchase–sale agreement.

Already a month later, in October 2020, by an exchange agreement they recorded the adjacent territory of the house in his name. There are two more objects registered there: a house of 285 sq. m with its own pool, utility block and cellar, and a building of 121,7 sq. m.

Detailed satellite images show that the territory of this combined VIP estate adjoins the Kozynka River directly. The landscaped infrastructure extends right into the water and appears to completely block access to the shore (hello, Water Code). Moreover, the images show that our retiree even has a private pier.

Capital “squares” and million-hryvnia assets

But the appetites of the 81-year-old rentier are not limited to Kozyn. Registers show he holds substantial commercial real estate assets directly in the capital. Most of the properties are concentrated in Holosiivskyi and Solomyanskyi districts of Kyiv. In particular, the retiree owns two nonresidential premises on Mykhailo Maksymovych Street, as well as a complex of premises (about 1000 sq. m in total) on Hryhorii Hulyanytskyi Street (formerly Moskovska).

At the same time, the elderly man has consolidated businesses in his hands whose scale is striking. Official data from Opendatabot and YouControl record a number of companies where Atamaniuk Sr. is the direct owner and beneficiary.

The largest asset in his portfolio is LLC “Arsenalna Group” with a charter capital of 105,5 million UAH. Next is LLC “Pozniaky Group” with capital of 32,5 million UAH. The latter company generates stable financial figures: its annual revenue in recent years has held within 35–43 million UAH. The retiree also controls a majority stake (62%) in the investment fund “ZURI” (capital 256 million UAH) and is the sole founder of LLC “Narodnyi Univermag.”

The shadow of the lustrated fiscal officer

The explanation for the sudden financial success of the 81-year-old retiree seems to lie in his son’s biography. According to the editorial office, Anatoliy Atamaniuk is the father of Yuriy Atamaniuk — a tax police Major General and former deputy head.

For over 20 years the son built a career exclusively in public service within the fiscal bodies of Viktor Yanukovych’s era. In 2015 he was caught up in a wave of government cleansing and was harshly lustrated — banned from holding public office for 10 years.

However, during the years of “one salary” service the tax officer’s family still managed to grow not only Kozyn halls. Journalists from the Bihus.info project previously found that Yuriy Atamaniuk managed to erect a palace of 600 square meters in Romankiv — another elite settlement near Kyiv. By the way, Romankiv seems to have become a whole “tax nest” — investigative journalists once wrote that the cottage town “Soniachna Dolyna” in that village was registered to another official from the Yanukovych era — head of the tax police Andriy Holovach.

After lustration, Atamaniuk tried to convert his tax experience into political influence. In 2019 he even stormed the Verkhovna Rada, but to no avail. Later the retired general found himself at the helm of the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine (APPU). Running that structure, the former top fiscal official began actively positioning himself as the “main defender of business” and a fighter against pressure from law enforcement bodies.

At the same time, he became a regular guest of Viktor Medvedchuk’s pro-Russian television pool, appearing on the now-blocked channels “112 Ukraine,” NewsOne and ZIK where, according to Detector Media, he mostly promoted pro-Russian narratives. In particular, speaking as an APPU expert, the general was notable for publicly whitewashing Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

“I believe that Lukashenko, alone, is better than all six of our presidents put together,” Yuriy Atamaniuk said directly on air.

With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, panic seems to have set in for the family of the ardent supporter of the dictatorship. Media circulated information that the lustrated fiscal officer tried to urgently evacuate not only relatives but also sacks of undeclared cash abroad via Poland — the amount mentioned was about 3 million dollars.

Today, having lost major TV slots and serious political platforms, the former top tax official is forced to settle for much more modest tribunes. He tries to run his own Telegram channel, whose audience hardly amounts to a few hundred subscribers. In addition, Yuriy Atamaniuk periodically appears with publications on marginal sites, where he continues to actively criticize the current Ukrainian authorities. It seems that the lack of real governmental powers forces him to use any informational crevices to remind people of himself.

In addition, Yuriy Atamaniuk is developing his own business, which is formally recorded not on his father but directly on him. He is the sole owner and beneficiary of LLC “Transit-23,” LLC KVF “Kozak,” LLC “Lend-Capital” and LLC “Mebli Konsalt.”

The story of 81-year-old Anatoliy Atamaniuk and his son is a classic example of how “family trusts” of former high officials operate in Ukraine. While ordinary Ukrainians try to survive difficult times, elderly people who never previously showed up in big business suddenly become successful developers, rentiers and owners of gigantic gated estates with signs of law violations on riverbanks.

In the case of the Atamaniuk family, the shadow of the lustrated son-general is clearly visible behind the retiree father. Officially heading the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine and declaring protection of business, Yuriy Atamaniuk appears to have excellently protected his own family interests — placing the necessary flags in property registers both on his father and on himself personally.