A Cartier necklace, a Rolex Daytona watch, and real estate and transport worth millions — the family of Roman Kornev, deputy head of the State Tax Service in the Mykolaiv region, demonstrates a high level of wealth. According to the VYI news channel, individual items in declarations and open registers attract attention with a gap between the declared value and market prices, as well as active rental housing schemes.
Roman Kornev has held the position of Deputy Head of the Regional Department of the State Tax Service since 2025. Before that, he worked in Volyn, managed the capital's LLC "Spas Bezpeka" and PE "Cobra-Lutsk", and is also listed as the owner of the NGO "Volyn Regional Sports Club "Otaman"". The official's salary in 2024 was 563 thousand UAH.
Against the background of official income, the family's jewelry and property assets stand out. Kornev's wife owns a Cartier Juste un clou necklace (purchased in December 2022) and a Rolex Daytona (since 2016). The cost of the watch is not indicated in the declaration, but the market price of such models can reach about UAH 1.2 million. Since 2019, the family has had a 237 m² residential building and a 1,200 m² land plot in Volyn. In March 2024, a close relative acquired another house in the region — 55 m² with a 2,400 m² plot, which, according to the report, is also used by the taxman himself.
A separate story is the rented estates near Kyiv. The couple rents a 570.4 m² house in Plyuty (Obukhov district) from citizen Marina Bilous and a 1,332 m² land plot. Although the rent amounts are not disclosed, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of hryvnias per month. At the same time, in Mykolaiv, Kornev rented a 150 m² apartment in a premium residential complex.
The car fleet raises no less questions. In April 2023, a Volkswagen ID.4 (2022 model year) appeared in Kornev's name, declared with a purchase price of UAH 150,000, despite the fact that the market value at that time was estimated at about UAH 1.3 million. In January 2024, the wife purchased a Volvo XC90 (2023 model year) for UAH 3.2 million, which the husband uses. The family also has a Bombardier Outlander 980 ATV. The family budget is fueled by the wife's entrepreneurial income - UAH 1.3 million for 2024, as well as UAH 640,000 from renting out property.
The combined scale of the assets—from luxury jewelry to large homes and expensive cars—raises additional questions about the source of wealth and whether the amounts declared correspond to market values. Given the public interest in transparency in the tax service, Roman Kornev’s story is telling: it combines intensive rental practices, assets of relatives, value gaps, and high-priced luxury items.
Kornev himself, according to VYI, was considered a potential candidate for promotion in the central apparatus of the State Tax Service. Taking into account the published data, the issues of reputational risks and proper verification of declarations become even more relevant.
