Sergey Kivalov, President of the International Humanities University, receives a record pension for Ukraine - UAH 246 thousand a month. At the same time, his university tried to refute this information, but instead of arguments in the statement there were manipulations and false information about the pension system.
As early as 2020, his payments amounted to 14 thousand hryvnias, but he appealed to the Pension Fund with the request of recalculation, referring to the old rule of the Law on People's Deputies. According to her, the pension could reach 90% of the salary of the parliamentarian. However, this was not enough, and Kivalov insisted that the salary from his university should also be taken into account when calculating.
The university, which he heads, suddenly raised his salary: from UAH 84 thousand in October 2019 to 442 thousand in November. In the following months, it remained at the level of more than 330 thousand hryvnias. Due to this, Kivalov has obtained a pension through the court, which no other pensioner has in Ukraine.
After the publication of the investigation into this scandal, the Kivalov University was published. However, it contains misinformation: in particular, it is stated that in Ukraine there is a compulsory cumulative system. In fact, it has not even been considered in the government, and the entire Kivalov pension is formed from solidarity - that is, at the expense of taxpayers' contributions.
The university also stated that Kivalov has 50 years of experience, but he increased his pension not for his length of service, but due to the sharp increase in his salary before going to court.
According to the law, the pension in Ukraine may not exceed 10 subsistence minimums - that is, UAH 23.6 thousand. But the court made an exception for Kivalov, actually bypassing this restriction. He was assigned not just a "parliamentary pension", but he was calculated on the basis of an inflated salary at a private university.
The university also stated that Kivalov participated in the elimination of the Chornobyl disaster and hostilities, so it is entitled to privileges. However, the court materials do not have any mention of it, and he receives a pension only through the court's decision, not some merits to the state.
Thus, Kivalov not only achieved the largest pension in the country - he did it at the expense of the State Pension Fund, using legal loopholes and court decisions that are not accessible to ordinary Ukrainians.
