The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court (HCC) demanding the recovery of assets in the total amount of 4.5 million hryvnias from Yevhen Zhuk, the head of the Department of Combating Narcotic Crime of the National Police of Ukraine. As reported by the Anti-Corruption Center, these assets are the subject of an investigation into their origin.
It is noted that the lawsuit was drawn up on the basis of the materials of the NAKC and independently obtained evidence.
In 2021-2023, the official and his wife became the owners of an apartment in Kyiv with an area of 73.4 square meters and a value of over UAH 3.6 million, as well as two non-residential premises.
The official's wife bought three more premises and a 2013 Land Rover Discovery car for an alleged 385,000 hryvnias (clearly an understated price).
The SAP concludes that the spouses and their close relatives did not have legal income to purchase the specified assets, therefore they are asked to recover them.
The official assured that before buying the apartment, he and his wife received 1.8 million UAH and 50 thousand dollars (1.4 million UAH) from their parents. However, NAZK found out that their incomes and savings did not allow them to make such gifts to children.
In the declaration for 2023, Zhuk noted that he earned less than UAH 700,000 per year and saved $55,000.
The SAP stated: "Given what was discovered, the prosecutor appealed to the court with a claim to collect almost UAH 4.5 million from the official in state income, the legality of which causes reasonable doubt."
As noted in the Anti-Corruption Center, civil confiscation is a simplified procedure for recovery of unjustified assets of officials compared to the criminal process.
