You're reading: Ex-allies of Yanukovych reveal their wealth in asset declarations

It looks like the former allies of Ukraine’s fugitive former president, Viktor Yanukovych, managed to come through the EuroMaidan Revolution without suffering serious damage to their wealth. At least that is what their asset declarations show. Former lawmakers of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, who are still in the parliament as members of the Opposition Bloc, Vidrodzhennya and Volya Narodu factions, revealed in their electronic asset declarations that they own dozens of offshore firms, hoards of valuables and heaps of cash.

The declarations had to be filed by the end of Oct. 30, and are now available online for all to see at http://www.public.nazk.gov.ua.  The launch of the new e-declaration system was one of the conditions set by the European Union to Ukraine in order to grant the country visa-free travel to the union for its citizens.

Lawmakers Vadym Novynskiy and Serhiy Lyovochkin, his sister Yulia Lyovochkina from the Opposition Bloc and Vitaliy Khomutynnyk, who is now a member of Vidrodzhennya Party, declared their ownership of offshore firms registered in Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. They also declared the dividends they get from those companies. What is still unknown is what these companies are for, and exactly where the lawmakers’ vast sums of cash came from.

While having official Rada salaries of Hr 60,000-70,000 (around $3,000) a year, Opposition Bloc and Vidrodzhennya lawmakers have a taste for luxury: lawmakers declared dozens of expensive Rolex and Breguet watches, jewelry by Cartier and Tiffany, luxury cars, land plots, collections of art and weapons.

And in common with other Ukrainian lawmakers, opposition politicians prefer to keep the bulk of their money in cash; while they declared they had thousands in bank accounts, they also said they kept millions in cash.

Ukrafoto

Vadym Novynskiy (Ukrafoto)

Novynskiy: Rich parishioner

Opposition Bloc lawmaker Novynskiy is a metal-industry mogul and a patron of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. He is worth $444 million, according to Forbes Ukraine. Novynskiy, who comes from Russia, declared two apartments in Kyiv, two in Russia, and land plots in Russia and Ukraine. His Ukrainian land is in the village of Kozyn in Kyiv Oblast, where numerous other members of Ukraine’s elite, including President Petro Poroshenko, reside in luxurious houses.

In his e-declaration, Novynskiy revealed that in 2015 he earned Hr 107.5 million total income with only Hr 73,235 ($2,873) of it being his salary from the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.

Most of his income in 2015, Hr 105 million ($4.2 million) came as dividends from Komisiano Investments Limited, a Cyprus-registered company of Novynskiy.
The businessman declared that he owns 26 companies registered in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, several companies registered in Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands, and 46 businesses in Ukraine.

Novynskiy declared cash holdings of $2.34 million, 780,000 euros, and Hr 3 million (the equivalent of $120,000). He and his wife Maria Novynska both have a passion for antiques, and they own an impressive collection of paintings and furniture dating from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The lawmaker is also a collector of Orthodox icons, and owns a collection of about 30 of them, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Opposition Bloc lawmaker Nestor Shufrych speaks to his collegues in Rada in June 2015 ( Volodymyr Petrov) (VOLODYMYR PETROV)

Shufrych: Art and weapons

His fellow party member Shufrych owns seven apartments in Kyiv, two in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod in Zakarpattya Oblast, and a house in the village of Kozyn in Kyiv Oblast. He also owns a 969-square-meter recreation area in the village of Kamianytsia in Zakarpattya Oblast.

Shufrych declared Hr 15.9 million income with an annual salary from the Verkhovna Rada of Hr 74,942 (about $3,000).
In his bank accounts, Shufrych has a little more than $9,000, Hr 40,000 ($1,600) and more than 4,500 euros. But in cash, he declared $4.23 million, 3.75 million euros, and Hr 25 million ($1 million).

Shufrych also owns a collection of 287 paintings, a 121-piece collection of ancient porcelain, and 17 watches, which he declared as a set, listing separately only one watch – a Rolex worth of some $13,000. Shufrych also has a 156-piece firearm collection, a vast collection of 568 knives, and some 51 old religious icons.

Sergiy Lyovochkin speaks at 12th Yalta European Strategy on Sept. 12, 2015.

Sergiy Lyovochkin speaks at 12th Yalta European Strategy on Sept. 12, 2015. (Volodymyr Petrov)

Lyovochkin and Lyovochkina
Opposition Bloc lawmaker Lyovochkin, an ex-head of Yanukovych’s Presidential Administration who is often dubbed a gray cardinal of Ukraine’s politics, has declared ownership of six companies, registered in the Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus.

His dividends from the Cypriot-registered Oskaro Investments Ltd. brought him Hr 22 million ($863,000) in 2015. His official wage from the Rada over the period was Hr 64,842 ($2,500), and total income was Hr 24.1 million. Lyovochkin has been in public service since 1998.

His sister Yulia Lyovochkina, also an Opposition Bloc lawmaker, owns a 1,163-square-meter mansion and a 9,387-square-meter land plot in France. The property is registered to Glorietta Investments 1 ApS, a firm registered in Denmark and owned by Lyovochkina. Lyovochkina granted her brother a right to use the property for free, according to his declaration.

This is allegedly the same house that was attributed to Lyovochkin back in January in an investigation published by lawmaker and ex-journalist Sergii Leshchenko. Back then, Lyovochkin said that the investigation was a speculation but didn’t directly deny that he and his family were using the house, telling Ukrainian Focus magazine he wouldn’t comment on the family matters for security reasons.

Lyovochkina also declared her ownership of 30 companies registered in the Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus. Along with the Hr 71,247 (about $2,850) she earned as her legislator wage, she received more than Hr 25 million ($1 million) in dividends from one of her Cypriot companies – Tavistar Investments Limited. Her total income was more than Hr 28 million.

Verkhovna Rada deputy Vitalii Khomutynnyk

Verkhovna Rada deputy Vitalii Khomutynnyk (Ukrafoto) (Ratynskyi Viacheslav)

Khomutynnyk: Biggest earnings
Businessman and lawmaker Khomutynnyk, who left the Party of Regions in 2014 and is now a member of the Vidrodzhennya Party, declared his ownership of nine firms registered in Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
With an official yearly Rada salary of about $3,000, he has amassed more than $7 million in his bank accounts. His total income in 2015 was more than Hr 166 million.

He also has an art collection that includes a sculpture by Romanian master Demetre Chiparus “The Tiger Hunter” (works of Chiparus are worth some $80,000) and a Volière de la Cour singing bird automaton music box, worth some $7,000.
Another former Party of Regions member, Natalia Korolevskaya, who was Ukraine’s minister for social policy during Yanukovych’s presidency, didn’t declare as much property and money as her colleagues.

www.kmu.gov.ua

Opposition Bloc lawmaker Natalia Korolevskaya (www.kmu.gov.ua)

Korolevskaya: Modest earnings
Opposition Bloc’s Korolevskaya declared that she owns land plots in Luhansk Oblast, earned Hr 75,322 (about $6,000) as a lawmaker in 2015. She has $27,000 and 18,000 euros in cash. Her husband, another Opposition Bloc lawmaker Yuriy Solod declared Hr 117,228.
In 2015, Korolevska was photographed wearing Chanel sneakers worth of some 550 euros. But the lawmaker said she bought the shoes online for $76.

opposition.org.ua

Yuriy Boyko, the Opposition Bloc leader (opposition.org.ua)

Boyko: Supported by his wife
Yuriy Boyko, the former deputy prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the Opposition Bloc, who ran for the presidency during the 2014 election, also declared much less property than his party colleagues: a land plot and a 30-square-meter house, a garage and apartment in Donetsk Oblast, along with a 600-square-meter land plot in Kyiv Oblast.

The declared income of Boyko, 58, in 2015 came from his Rada salary ($3,000 per year) and the state retirement pension ($681), which in Ukraine is paid to the men above 55 years regardless of whether they retire. However, he keeps Hr 3 million ($120,000) in cash. His total income in 2015 was Hr 218,377.

His wife Vira Boyko is richer. She has two apartments in Kyiv and two in Russia, along with seven land plots and a house in the village of Vyshenky in Kyiv Oblast.
She also owns two construction firms. Her official wage in 2015 was more than Hr 1 million ($40,000) and last year she also earned more than Hr 1 million in dividends from her real estate firm Stolychna Nerukhomist. Her total income was Hr 6.1 million.

Going offshore
Novinsky’s assistant Yevgen Zagorulko refused to comment on his boss’ Cyprus-registered companies on the phone.

“Cyprus is a part of European Union, not a ‘famous offshore zone,’” Zagorulko told the Kyiv Post.

Yuriy Fedchyshyn of the Institute for Social and Economic Studies told the Kyiv Post that it is not forbidden under Ukrainian law to own companies registered in tax havens.

“For many businessmen it is a way to distribute capital between all of their business partners,” said Fedchyshyn. “(But) for some it is also a way to keep their business in secret and not pay taxes.”

Fedchyshyn said that Cyprus has a better tax reputation for business than, for example, Panama. According to the website of Intelligence Solution Group, one of many companies that offer to help Ukrainian businesses set up an offshore entity, Cyprus is a “low-tax zone,” while British Virgin Islands, the Seychelles and the Cayman Islands are categorized as offshore zones.

However, Cyprus can still be used for offshore operations because of its deregulated regime for business and the ability to hide the ownership of companies, Fedchyshyn said.