A gold-plated palace and luxury cars: in Zakarpattia, an MP has been served with a notice of suspicion over concealing assets in his declaration

Law enforcement officers have served a notice of suspicion to a deputy of the Berehove District Council in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region on suspicion of concealing multimillion income in his asset declaration and laundering proceeds obtained through criminal means.

This was reported by the Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the investigation, when submitting his annual declaration for 2022, the deputy deliberately failed to list property and income totaling more than 8.3 million hryvnias (almost €164,000). Investigators say the official did not declare a Ford Mustang that was jointly owned by the spouses, significant income, and financial transactions related to the purchase and subsequent sale of an elite Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

The prosecutor’s office said that in October 2022 the elected official bought a premium-class car for 3.75 million hryvnias (€74,000), even though his officially confirmed income over more than 20 years of business activity did not exceed 227,000 hryvnias (€4,500). Just a few days after the purchase, the car was sold, and the proceeds were used for personal needs. None of these operations, nor the corresponding income, were reflected in the declaration.

The deputy’s actions are being classified as entering false information in a declaration and laundering funds obtained through criminal means.