The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) suspects the former head of the SBU in Mykolaiv region of illicit enrichment totaling UAH 22.6 million: apartments in Kyiv hidden through his mother-in-law

The State Bureau of Investigation has notified the former head of the SBU department in the Mykolaiv region of suspicion for possible illicit enrichment: according to the investigation, in 2020–2021 years assets were acquired in an amount exceeding lawful income by more than UAH 22,666,000.

As informed by the SBI, based on the bureau’s materials the National Agency on Corruption Prevention conducted a lifestyle monitoring of the former official, which confirmed signs of illicit enrichment; procedural supervision in the proceeding is exercised by the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the SBI states that it systematically verifies the consistency of officials’ living standards with their official incomes.

According to media reports, this concerns Vitalii Hersak, who headed the SBU department in the Mykolaiv region in 2019–2020.

The investigation states that in July 2021 the mother of the former official’s spouse, having no confirmed official income, purchased in an elite residential complex in the capital three parking spaces for almost 1.9 million UAH, a non-residential premises for more than 8.4 million UAH and two apartments in an elite Kyiv neighborhood with a total value of over 12 million UAH.

Later these assets were gifted to her daughter, after which the wife gave her husband the right to dispose of the said assets.

Law enforcement established that the combined official incomes of the former official, his wife and his mother-in-law were insufficient to make such purchases.

The former law-enforcement officer had previously repeatedly been the subject of journalistic investigations; after information about his family’s wealth appeared in the media he resigned from law enforcement and, according to investigators, switched to public activity.

The ex-official has already been handed a suspicion of illicit enrichment; the penalty under the charged article provides for up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property; a motion to impose a preventive measure is being prepared, and during searches of him and family members new real estate objects were also discovered, purchased after his resignation, the legality of whose origin is additionally being examined.

Earlier we wrote:

• A Ukrainian Armed Forces major is suspected of buying apartments in Bali
• Not a psychiatrist, but a millionaire: the SBU exposed the unheard‑of wealth of a military official
• Support or risk? Kim and Arahamiia explained why they stood as guarantors for the wealthy Mykolaiv MP
• Illicit enrichment: the mayor of Ochakiv bought an apartment in Spain for ₴5 million
• Scandal in the Ministry of Defense: an official is suspected of corruption and hiding assets