SAP seeks confiscation of two more cars from former head of Poltava tax office Riabkova

The SAP is asking the court to overturn the first-instance ruling insofar as it refused to recover two crossovers — a Toyota C-HR Hybrid, 2022 year of manufacture, and a Land Rover Range Rover Velar, 2019 year of manufacture — and to confiscate the premium vehicles for the state.

Case summary

At the end of 2023, the SBI together with the NACP established that the then acting head of the Poltava tax office, Alla Riabkova, and members of her family acquired assets worth more than 6 million UAH (in the period from 2020 to 2023), the origin of which did not correspond to their official incomes: these included apartments in Poltava and Kyiv and two vehicles.

In September 2024 the SAP filed a suit with the High Anti-Corruption Court seeking confiscation of these assets for the state. According to the investigation, the official was connected to all the assets: she provided relatives with money and instructions to purchase them and could dispose of the purchased property.

The SAP’s final claim did not include the Poltava apartment that featured at the start of the investigation. This concerns a dwelling of 62,3 m² worth nearly 958 thousand UAH, registered to the official’s husband in August 2021. As a result, the total amount of assets claimed for recovery decreased and amounted to about 4,59 million UAH.

According to the SAP, the assets were distributed as follows:

Defense arguments and the family’s position

Alla Riabkova and members of her family contested the SAP’s claim, insisting on the lawful origin of the property. In particular, the former head of the tax office argued that the NACP had no right to check her lifestyle for the period before 30 December 2020 due to the unconstitutionality of the norms in force at that time.

For each asset, the defense cited the following arguments:

Riabkova’s husband also stated that he was present at the purchase of the Kyiv apartment solely as a lawyer, providing the family’s legal support, and that their daughter living there and paying the utilities does not indicate that the property belonged to the tax official herself.

First-instance court decision

On 23 July 2026 the High Anti-Corruption Court partially granted the SAP’s claim.

The court found that the Kyiv apartment, worth 2,24 million UAH, is an unjustified asset and should be recovered for the state. The court determined that the real buyer of the apartment was Alla Riabkova herself: her family searched for a Kyiv apartment without the involvement of her sister (who permanently lived in Poltava), the money was provided by the official’s husband, and immediately after the purchase their daughter moved in, paid the utilities, and managed the personal account. Since the legitimacy of the funds used for the purchase was not confirmed, the court confiscated the apartment in favor of the state.

At the same time, the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to confiscate the two vehicles (the Toyota C-HR Hybrid and the Land Rover Range Rover Velar) and lifted their seizure.

Regarding the Land Rover, the court found that the official’s father had sufficient financial capacity due to many years of farming activity and the income of the family farm "Oksana," so this asset could not be considered unjustified.

Concerning the Toyota, the court concluded that Riabkova’s daughter had sufficient personal savings (including accumulated funds and gifts from relatives) combined with parental help to pay for the car. During the first-instance trial, prosecutors did not prove that the crossover was purchased with illicit funds of the tax official herself.

Recall that Alla Riabkova served as acting head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Poltava region from 2023 until March 2025 (before that she was deputy head of the same department). She is currently deputy head of a division of the State Tax Service of Ukraine.