While Ukraine is fighting for its independence, corrupt officials are enriching themselves behind the scenes with budget funds. In January of this year, two officials of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council were involved in a corruption scandal, causing losses to the state of over 2 million hryvnias.
The head of the transport and communications department, Andriy Giglyuk, is suspected of embezzling 600,000 hryvnias. Meanwhile, the head of the "City Ritual Service" Andriy Khrunyk, according to police, embezzled over 1.5 million hryvnias.
This is reported by the StopKor publication.
The New Year in Ivano-Frankivsk region began with two corruption scandals involving city council officials. Moreover, it turned out that one of them is not the first time he has appeared in a corruption case. It turns out that big money can be earned in different ways.
How much can you earn from arranging bus stops?
On January 15, 2025, the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk region announced suspicion of embezzlement of 600 thousand hryvnias against Andriy Giglyuk, head of the transport and communications department.
As the local publication "Galka" wrote, in May 2023, the transport department signed an agreement with entrepreneur Ilona Kovalchuk to install five bus stops. The contract she received at that time for the amount of 1,465,000 hryvnias was her first experience in entrepreneurship, as Ilona Kovalchuk's individual entrepreneur was registered only on March 29, 2023.
And the entrepreneur has already concluded eight contracts with the Ivano-Frankivsk City Administration and Department of Urban Development for a total amount of UAH 3,940,257, and all of them were concluded without competitive procedures. And the last of these contracts, for the amount of UAH 1,497,000, concerned the installation of five public transport stops. It was this contract that the State Audit Service became interested in, which reported on January 11, 2024. And already on January 17, the transport administration published an additional contract dated December 28 of last year, which certified that this contract was terminated the day after it was presented.
As the police found out, the bus stops were being set up by the entrepreneur's 40-year-old husband himself. He also picked up cheap materials: paint, pipes, glass, gravel, etc. However, in the certificates of work performed, they were listed at inflated prices.
And in their message on the official website, the police reported that "the city council official did not properly check the cost of the materials used and signed the acceptance certificates for the work performed. Thus, abusing his official position, the official and his accomplices embezzled budget funds in the amount of almost 600 thousand hryvnias. During the search, the police seized documentation, mobile phones and other physical evidence from the suspects.".
Moreover, only for January 1-6, 2025, Andriy Giglyuk received 137,974 hryvnias as the head of the department. Now let's compare it with the salary of a military officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Impressive, isn't it?
By the way, the court chose a preventive measure for Andriy Giglyuk in the form of a bail of 121,120 hryvnias, and considering that in just 6 days the official received almost 140,000 hryvnias, it will probably not be a problem for him to be released.
How much did Andriy Giglyuk earn in this position?
Mr. Giglyuk's 2024 e-declaration states that last year he earned 566,364 hryvnias and received 1,234 hryvnias in national cashback. His wife, Natalia Giglyuk, earned 254,390 hryvnias, received 9,288 hryvnias in social benefits and 1,000 hryvnias in cashback.
Natalia Giglyuk has an apartment, a garage, and a utility room in Uhorniki - the woman became the owner of all the real estate in 2021. In 2022, she purchased a 2012 Nissan Qashqai for 138 thousand hryvnias. By the way, specialized websites indicate a different price: such cars cost 420-520 thousand hryvnias there.
Andriy Giglyuk declared $30,000 in savings. For comparison: in 2022 he declared $20,000 and 50,000 hryvnia in cash, and in 2023 – $25,000.
A week after the first corruption scandal in the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, on January 20, 2025, investigators of the Main Police Department in the Ivano-Frankivsk region conducted searches at another municipal utility company. This time, the Municipal Ritual Service and its head, Andriy Khrunyk, were singled out.
Back in 2023, the police suspected the head of the “City Ritual Service” of abuse of power. Investigators from the Main Department of National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk region even searched Khrunyk’s apartment.
And so in 2025, Andriy Khrunyk again came under police surveillance. And all because the municipal enterprise “City Ritual Service” held multi-million tenders for the removal of trees and pruning of green spaces. Then it independently drew up acts of work performed and paid for them. After that, the entrepreneurs, in collusion with the director, transferred the cost to third parties for goods and services, the actual copyright holder of which, according to the investigation, was the head of the “City Ritual Service”.
During a search of a household on Chumaka Street in the village of Vovchynets, law enforcement officers discovered property similar to what the entrepreneurs were purchasing: sliding gates, paving stones, and video surveillance cameras.
The police also reported that the documents indicate inflated amounts of work performed and the use of equipment that was not actually involved. In this way, more than 1.5 million UAH was misappropriated, transferred to the accounts of a private entrepreneur, and then legalized by transferring them to other bank accounts or withdrawing cash from ATMs.
The court suspended Andriy Khrunyk from performing his duties as director of the Municipal Ritual Service. This is stated in the ruling dated January 23, 2025.
The official faces a sentence of imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years and confiscation of property, as reported by the Galka.if.ua publication.
When the corruption cases of municipal officials of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council went beyond their offices, Mayor Ruslan Marcinkiv reacted.
“ My team has over 600 people, and if we take into account all the structures, it’s over 3,000 people. Mistakes can happen, and we need to be held accountable for them. I support the principle that everyone should be responsible for their actions. Can I control everyone’s thoughts? Obviously not. But if there are mistakes, they should be resolved in accordance with the law. There is a presumption of innocence and courts that should make decisions. I condemn such cases and believe that accountability is necessary ,” said Ruslan Marcinkiv.
What did Mr. Khrunyk manage to earn?
Officially, that is, according to the e-declaration, Andriy's family owns an apartment (2005) of 71.4 sq.m. (the official himself owns it). Another apartment (2002) is jointly owned with Maria Ivanivna Khrunyk and Halyna Orestivna Khrunyk-Hovdiak. Khrunyk owns a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D (purchased in 2023) and a trailer. He received a salary of UAH 616,900 in 2023. He keeps UAH 530,000 and USD 26,000 in cash
From entrepreneurial activity (FOP Nazim G.G.) Halyna Nazim received 2,494,088 UAH. In cash, she keeps 18,000 euros, 2,000 zlotys, 1,250,000 UAH, 40,000 USD.
