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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The High Anti-Corruption Court 3 September ruled to collect 4,3 million UAH for the state from former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval. This concerns 53,15% of an apartment of over 170 sq. m in Kyiv, registered to his mother-in-law. Journalists previously found that Koval’s family used this residence, and the NAPC established that the official’s mother-in-law did not have sufficient legitimate income to purchase the apartment.
The court found part of the asset unjustified — 53% of the apartment in the city of Kyiv, the ownership of which is registered to the ex-minister’s mother-in-law Halyna Baraniuk. The Anti-Corruption Action Center reported this on its Telegram channel. VAKS collected the value of that share for the state — 4 million 353 thousand UAH. The court lifted the arrest on the apartment because what is subject to collection is the value of the asset itself.
The lawsuit was based not only on a publication by the journalists of Slidstvo.Info, but also on materials from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, and on evidence independently gathered by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The origin of the funds for the property was determined
The official’s mother-in-law in 2021 acquired ownership of an apartment of more than 170 square meters in one of Kyiv’s elite residential complexes. The official value in the documents was 8,1 million UAH, although journalists from Slidstvo.Info found that the market price for such apartments is almost 18 million UAH.
Journalists also established that before retiring, from 2014 to 2020, Koval’s mother-in-law earned only 495 thousand UAH — on average about 6 thousand UAH per month. After analyzing the woman’s income and expenses, the court found a partial impossibility to purchase the apartment using lawful income, and the version that she received a loan of almost 5,5 million UAH was refuted in court. From 2023 the official began to report this property in his declaration as the residence of his family and as an object rented by his wife.
Earlier Informator reported that Agriculture Minister Solskyi resigned after suspicions from NABU were raised. He was accused of misappropriating state land worth 291 million UAH and attempting to seize additional land worth 190 million UAH. We also wrote that subsequently VAKS arrested Agriculture Minister Solskyi, although the court allowed him to be released after posting bail of 75 million UAH.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "ВАКС стягнув 4,3 млн грн - ексміністр Коваль втратив частину квартири, оформленої на тещу". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
