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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Former Odesa deputy mayor who fled abroad owns millions of hryvnias in assets in Ukraine
For half a year NABU has not applied to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) to arrest the property of former first deputy mayor of Odesa Mykhailo Kuchuk, who declared 53 million hryvnias in cash in various currencies, as well as 24 real estate objects, most of which are registered to his wife.
The editorial staff of 368.media learned this after analyzing HACC rulings in the case of the former official.
Kuchuk was recently placed on the national wanted list. He is suspected of organizing a criminal group and taking bribes. The official allegedly enriched himself by 300 thousand hryvnias per month so that the shadow overseers of the mayor’s office — oligarchs Kaufman and Hranovskyi — could control processes in Odesa.
Kuchuk was charged and arrested in absentia. Through lawyers the official tried to annul the delivery of the notification from NABU, but HACC dismissed the complaint. The appellate instance did the same.
Despite being wanted and arrested in absentia, Kuchuk’s property in Ukraine is still not seized.
What’s in the assets?
According to his most recently published declaration, the official used premises in Odesa of 152,6 sq. m registered to his unemployed son Vadym, who is aiming to become a prosecutor. Kuchuk Sr. has the right of free use of a homestead of 913 sq. m and a land plot of 215 sq. m that belong to Iryna Krylovska. That is the corrupt official’s wife.
Kuchuk owns a non-residential building in Odesa (1429 sq. m), a residential house (366 sq. m), and two land plots (118 and 560 sq. m). Together with his wife he owns an apartment of 85,9 sq. m in the Czech Republic worth more than 10 million hryvnias, a homestead of 240 sq. m with a plot of 376 sq. m worth 8,1 million hryvnias.
Krylovska owns an apartment of 55 sq. m, an apartment of 61,2 sq. m, an apartment of 48 sq. m, a residential house of 35,5 sq. m, as well as a land plot of 3372 sq. m and a homestead of 737 sq. m in the village of Hatne, and an apartment of 119 sq. m in the Czech Republic worth 3,7 million hryvnias, a residential house of 160 sq. m in Greece, two land plots in Odesa purchased in 2015 of 207 and 196 sq. m, an apartment in Odesa of 80,6 sq. m, a parking space of 19 sq. m, and a non-residential premises in the Czech Republic of 449 sq. m.
Krylovska also declared a portion of a recreation base in Zatoka of 1198,7 sq. m, which she owns jointly with Odesa corrupt official Eduard Smoliar (during Hurvits’s tenure this official removed dozens of objects from municipal ownership).
Kuchuk purchased a GMC Yukon (2019) for 1 million hryvnias, and his wife owns a Land Rover (2018), bought in 2020 supposedly for 150 thousand hryvnias. The market value of such a car is over 3 million hryvnias. In 2020 Iryna Krylovska also purchased debt securities for 284 thousand hryvnias.
Mykhailo Kuchuk owns 6% of the statutory capital of the "Odesa City Dolphinarium", 10% of LLC "Nerum", 4,57% of LLC "Avalance", and 100% of the Czech company GERYNA s.r.o. In turn, Iryna Krylovska owns 33% of VCP "Varta", 25% of LLC "Lider-7". The total value of the assets is over 7 million hryvnias! Shares of Kuchuk’s brother Vyacheslav are also not included.
The couple’s total income in 2020 amounted to 5,43 million hryvnias. They also have 2,4 million hryvnias, 18,5 million Czech koruna, 339 thousand dollars and 641 thousand euros in savings. According to the declaration, Iryna Krylovska received a loan from her husband of 35 thousand dollars. She also failed to pay tax liabilities in the amount of 374 thousand hryvnias.
Fake inspection by NACP
In 2021 the NACP, after a long delay and repeated media requests, published the results of a full check of Kuchuk’s declaration. Earlier the automated system had detected a high level of corruption risks in the official’s tax reporting for 2020.
The declaration was checked for 175 calendar days against the standard term of 120. The inspection report contained many errors. The check itself was carried out formally.
As we wrote, the Kuchuk family in the Czech Republic has two apartments (85,9 and 119 sq. m), a homestead (616 sq. m) and a non-residential premises (449 sq. m), and in Greece — a house (160 sq. m). For the check Kuchuk provided extracts from Czech registers that were not properly certified by the competent authorities of that country. At the same time, no responses came from Czech authorities to the letters sent to them by NACP officials. And no requests were sent to Greece.
The NACP calculated that Kuchuk indicated funds totaling 39,4 million hryvnias, as well as property in Ukraine and abroad totaling 39,7 million hryvnias, and corporate rights of him and his wife totaling 6,8 million hryvnias. Conversely, according to the tax service data, the vice mayor’s income from 1998 to 2020 and the couple’s income from 2002 to 2020 amounted to only 4,1 and 5,4 million hryvnias respectively. However, Mykhailo Kuchuk himself did not exercise the right to provide explanations and documents on the origin of the family’s income that would justify obtaining the declared assets.
They also examined the company GERYNA s.r.o., where Kuchuk was director. The family lent it 18,2 million Czech koruna. The vice mayor reported that he held the position of director of his own company on an unpaid basis. The Ministry of Finance of the republic also did not provide answers to NACP’s requests within the inspection deadline.
Information about income received abroad is absent from Ukrainian state registers. Kuchuk also did not provide information in the declaration regarding the value of jewelry items. He declared his wristwatches Breguet and Vacheron Constantin and his wife’s watches Hysek and Ulysse Nardin, as well as her jewelry.
After all the inconsistencies were found, the agency reported that it did not find signs of administrative or criminal offenses in the official’s declaration. Currently the authorized NACP employee must take measures for Kuchuk to submit a declaration with accurate information. NACP added that if new information about Kuchuk’s and his family’s real estate emerges, that could be grounds for a repeat inspection. However, a repeat inspection did not take place.
At present Kuchuk is in the Czech Republic or Israel. He has not been detained. The editorial board calls on the NACP and NABU to bring the corrupt official and his family to criminal responsibility for crimes against the Ukrainian people.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Колишній віце-мер Одеси, котрий втік за кордон, володіє активами в Україні на мільйони гривень". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
