The mayor of Borshchiv community in Ternopil region, Ihor Chopyk, elected from the Batkivshchyna party, filed a declaration in which he avoids direct responsibility for the assessment of his own assets. The documents include tens of thousands of square meters of land, office space, apartments and cars. But it is impossible to find out how much it all costs. Chopyk simply does not indicate the value of his property, as well as that of his wife.
Ihor Chopyk and his wife Halyna live in Borshchev. She is an entrepreneur and owner of the company “Ternopilvodagrobud” LLC, registered in the same city. Officially, the company deals in building materials. Unofficially, it may be one of the sources of family well-being, which is not fully reflected in public documents.
The mayor's declaration includes at least three large land plots within Borshchev and one in the neighboring village of Ivane-Puste. In total, more than 3 hectares of land. However, the value of none of them is indicated. Another large plot – a 617-meter office space – is also without an assessment. And this despite the fact that all this property was purchased back in the 2000s, when accounting and state registration were established long ago.
Chopyk's wife, according to the same declaration, owns three more plots of land in Borshchev (including a 10-hectare plot), an apartment (77.5 m²), and an unfinished residential building with an area of 258 m². The cost and date of acquisition of most of the objects are also not specified.
The declaration records four vehicles in the name of Igor Chopyk. Among them are two cars (Mitsubishi Lancer and Skoda Superb), as well as two trucks. But here too, there is not a word about their value.
It is possible that such “forgotten” lines are not a coincidence. In many cases, an assessment of the property would make it possible to understand whether it corresponds to the level of the official’s income.
Igor Chopyk received over 900 thousand hryvnias in salary and almost 88 thousand in pension in 2023. His wife earned another 1.26 million hryvnias as an entrepreneur. But the most telling item in the declaration is cash. The Chopyk family keeps 1.14 million hryvnias, 14 thousand US dollars and another 6.8 thousand euros "under the pillow".
At the same time, real estate objects worth tens of millions of hryvnias are without value. Chopyk's declaration contains a lot of real and movable property, which, according to the logic of the law, should be valued or at least marked as "unknown", but even this has not been done.
LLC "Ternopilvodagrobud", the ultimate beneficiary of which is Halyna Chopyk, is registered in Borshchev. The company sells building materials, an industry where tax optimization schemes, contractual agreements with local budgets, and large cash transactions are often recorded.
Whether Igor Chopyk's wife was a counterparty of the Borshchiv City Council is a question that should be asked to anti-corruption authorities. And whether part of their real estate is registered in his wife's name for the same reason - concealing the value or conflict of interest.
The mayor of Borshchev has considerable assets, but is in no hurry to detail their value. The cost of land, office, house, car is not specified. His wife's business is behind the scenes. All this does not contradict the letter of the law, but it absolutely contradicts its spirit.
While Chopik serves as mayor of a community that needs transparency, his declaration remains an example of how to evade the attention of voters and regulatory bodies.
