Elite foreign cars for one hundred hryvnias: how Khmelnytskyi officials register cars to relatives

Here brand-new foreign cars are bought for the price of a broken bicycle, elite crossovers go to relatives for a symbolic one hundred hryvnias, and poor pensioners suddenly turn out to be owners of expensive German SUVs. A large-scale check of declarations exposed astonishing schemes that leave ordinary citizens feeling helpless.

This is reported by Ukrayina Kryminalna.

One hundred hryvnias for a crossover and other miracles of Ukrainian customs

It is simply impossible to imagine a crossover from the year 2018 being worth only one hundred hryvnias in real life. Yet for customs post head Oksana Sandurska this is commonplace: her husband allegedly bought a car for that amount... from his own mother. The official, however, called this price “symbolic,” as if that explains everything in the world.

Ms. Oksana’s colleagues are no slouches when it comes to the art of incredible discounts. Deputy head of customs Leonid Bohach declared a Ford Kuga that his wife supposedly once bought for forty thousand hryvnias — several times below market value. The usual explanation: the car was in an accident, and the seller just happened to be rushing abroad. Deputy head of the department Andriy Vasylenko registered a microcar in his wife’s name for six hundred dollars and a Volkswagen in his daughter’s name for one thousand five hundred. Of course, all these miraculous purchases for some reason took place far from market realities.

Social assistance for millionaires and cars in grandmothers’ names

A particular skill of local officials is the ability to use other people’s property. First deputy head Ihor Balan officially owns only a modest trailer and a motorcycle, yet for some reason regularly drives modern electric cars and SUVs registered to people with the lowest incomes on record.