The NACP has found inaccurate data in the declaration of former Ukrainian Ambassador to Spain Anatoly Shcherba amounting to over 11 million hryvnias. This concerns real estate, bank accounts, corporate rights, and income that the diplomat did not indicate in his reports.
The loudest question is an apartment in Spain with an area of 75 sq.m., rented by Shcherba's wife back in August 2022. The average cost of such housing is 360 thousand euros, or 11.163 million UAH at the NBU exchange rate at the time of the contract. Together with the apartment, the couple rented a place in an underground parking lot, which was also not indicated in the declaration.
Despite numerous requests from the NACP, the Spanish side has not provided an official response regarding the property status of the diplomat's wife. However, the lack of such information does not exempt the official from the obligation to indicate the use of the property in the declaration.
This is not the first such violation. According to the NACP, Shcherba and his wife repeatedly failed to declare the housing they rented while working in diplomatic institutions. The declarations from 2018 to 2023, as well as during the period of dismissal in 2024, do not contain any mention of rented housing abroad, which is contrary to the law.
In addition, the identification numbers that the ambassador indicated in the declaration as foreign turned out to be Ukrainian, including those for his wife and children. This is another example of providing false information.
Shcherba declared that his wife allegedly received UAH 2.613 million in salary from a Spanish legal entity, the Real Madrid Foundation . However, there is no information about such income in the state register of taxpayers, and no documents confirming employment have been provided.
This raises doubts about the authenticity of the family's sources of income.
Foreign accounts, corporate rights and undervalued assets
Hidden bank accounts in Spain were also discovered:
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$80,000 in CaixaBank ;
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98 thousand euros in BBVA .
As an explanation, Shcherba referred to his wife's income certificate in Belgium for the period 2014–2018, but even these 130 thousand euros do not match the recorded balances.
Of particular note is the failure to reflect corporate rights. The diplomat's wife owns 25% of Voland LLC and is its beneficiary — however, this information is missing from the declaration.
No less strange is the underestimation of the value of real estate and transport. For example, the declared apartment of his wife of 70 sq.m. is estimated at 142 thousand UAH, although the real value is many times higher. Similar violations concern the garage, land plots and cars.
According to the NACP's calculations, the total amount of unreliable data is UAH 11.163 million, which exceeds 2,000 subsistence minimums (UAH 6.056 million). This is the basis for opening criminal proceedings.
However, some of the information remained unverified due to the lack of documents. The NACP obliged Shcherba to submit a corrected declaration. Whether the case will reach court will depend on the further development of the investigation.
