One drinks coffee with cinnamon every Thursday to relax in the Dominican Republic, the second is the daughter of a priest of the Moscow Patriarchate, who has an empty declaration and drives a Mercedes, the third declares luxury real estate and in comments to journalists claims that these are gifts from former - rich - husbands .
All of them are officials of the State Customs Service, whose declarations were examined by Slidstva.Info journalists and found a lot of interesting things there.
At the beginning of April, a video from a popular Lviv blogger went viral on the Internet, in which ex-Lviv customs inspector Yulia Dryga said that the clothes she was wearing cost more than $8,000. The comment cost the official her dismissal from her job.
After the publication of the video, the girl immediately resigned “by agreement of the parties,” and the customs management sent information about her to the NACP for “conducting an inspection and appropriate response.”
In a comment to one of the media, Andrei Kuznik, head of Lviv customs, immediately after the incident with his now ex-subordinate, said: “It is now difficult to explain to everyone where she got these things. Like the joke about the prostitute daughter. Before you do or say something, you have to think about the consequences, and when you are in public service, you have to think about it 24/7.”
Cases when just one fashionable image of an official or official is several times higher than the declared income always causes a strong reaction in society. A logical question arises: where does the money for valuable purchases come from?
“DADDY, DROP YOUR MONEY”
22-year-old Sofia Krikunova is a state inspector at Odessa customs. According to her, she has held this position since approximately November 2023.
In the declaration for 2023, Krikunova indicates a salary of just over 34 thousand hryvnia (for the time she managed to work) and two apartments in Odessa with a total value of almost 9 million hryvnia, the owner of which she became in 2020.
In the same declaration, Sofia indicates a cash gift from her father Alexander Krikunov - 1.5 million hryvnia. What’s interesting is because in the declaration of a candidate for the position, Krikunov indicates his father’s salary at 6,500 hryvnia.
“I’m from Donetsk myself. I had a company that I sold and the money from the sale of which was declared,” Alexander Krikunov explains to Slidstva.Info journalists the origin of the gift for his daughter. During a conversation with reporters, the man also adds that it was he who insisted that his daughter go to work at customs to gain experience.
In the register of enforcement proceedings in Sofia there are several proceedings for traffic fines, the last one dated February 15, 2024. This means that the customs officer drives a car, although she does not declare either the right to use or the ownership of any vehicle.
Journalists from Slidstva.Info found Krikunova’s social networks, and there are a lot of interesting things in them. In particular, humorous videos with captions: “Daddy, throw away some money.”
Also on her social media pages, Sofia broadcasts her luxury life - shopping, branded clothing and accessories, jewelry and vacations in the resorts of the Maldives and the Dominican Republic.
In the Dominican Republic, Sofia vacationed with her family, probably at the beginning of 2024, at the 5-star Lopesan Costa Bavaro hotel. Booking a room for two in the hotel where Sofia and her family vacationed now costs from 25 to 31 thousand hryvnia per night.
Slidstvo.Info asked experts from the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption whether Krikunova should declare this vacation.
“Depending on who paid for it. Income that must be declared includes gifts. But gifts are declared only if the size of the gift exceeds 5 subsistence minimums established for the working population as of January 1 of the reporting year. Now it is 15,140 hryvnia. The second situation is if the subject of the declaration independently pays for the expenses of his vacation. Then the size of the one-time expense must exceed 50 subsistence minimums. This year it is 151 thousand 400 hryvnia,” comments Alexey Tuchak, head of the department for clarification on declaration issues of the Directorate for the Formation of Legal Positions on Declaration and Conflict of Interest Issues.
Interesting fact: when journalists examined the social networks of Sofia’s parents, they found photos of her mother from Moscow and temporarily occupied Crimea, published in 2019. It was not possible to find out what the official’s closest relative did in the aggressor country after the occupation of Crimea and the start of the war in Eastern Ukraine.
WEARS COUNTERFEIT BRAND ITEMS AND DOESN'T KNOW HIS SALARY
23-year-old Serafima Dumitru holds the position of chief state inspector at Chernivtsi customs, and before that she studied at the Odessa Law Academy.
What attracts attention is that her declaration is absolutely empty - she does not declare any transport, place of residence, or relatives.
In parallel with this, the girl is active on social networks. In the photographs, Serafima poses with branded accessories, and her companion in most photographs is a black Mercedes E-Class.
“I just don’t have anything of my own. I live with my parents. I’m not declaring the car because it’s not registered to me. I bought it from my brother maybe 5 months ago, and he bought it from a man from Ivano-Frankivsk. It is still registered to her. I’m going to re-register, but I don’t have time yet,” Serafima Dumitru tells reporters in a comment.
As the NACP explained to Slidstvo.Info, it is still necessary to declare transport, but under certain circumstances.
“The declaration reflects information about vehicles owned by the subject of the declaration or a family member as of the end of the reporting period; or if they were in the use or possession of the subject of the declaration or a member of his family for at least half of the days of the reporting period, or as of the last day of the reporting period and provided that the right to use arose at least 30 calendar days before the end of the reporting period “explains Alexey Tuchak.
Serafima tells reporters that all the branded items in the photographs are not actually branded, but simple fakes: “This is all a copy, this is dermantine, this is the Kalinovsky market.” Serafima also cannot immediately remember the amount of her salary; she simply explains that she has only recently worked and writes everything down on a piece of paper.
In addition to her luxury life, the girl publishes joint photos on social networks with her father, Lorin Dumitru or Archpriest Pavel. The man is the dean of the Hertsaevsky church district of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese of the UOC-MP.
Her father can be seen in the photographs together with another priest of the UOC-MP, the mentor of the Banchen monastery - Metropolitan Longin, or in the world - Mikhail Zhar - who has been carrying out anti-Ukrainian rhetoric since 2014. In 2023, the SBU declared Zhara suspicious for inciting interreligious hatred.
His son, also Mikhail Zhar, ran for and was elected to the Chernivtsi Regional Council in 2019 from the Opposition Platform for Life political party. Serafima also published propaganda brochures in his support on her page.
Journalists from Slidstva.Info asked the girl about her attitude towards the UOC-MP and the pro-Russian narratives around her: “Here, where my dad serves, there is nothing connected with the people who attacked us. Bishop Longin, Mikhail Zhar, the monastery have nothing in common with the pro-Russian priests.”
On the Internet, you can come across Seraphim’s profiles on several foreign dating sites. Seraphima says that she earned a thousand hryvnia this way:
“Two months ago they gave me a thousand hryvnia for this. I gassed up the car and that’s it.”
“I HAD WEALTHY MEN WHO GAVE ME THESE GIFTS”
Anna Asanova is the chief state inspector of the department for organizing customs control at Kharkov customs.
In her declaration for 2023, Asanova does not indicate the amount of her salary. She also declares an apartment in a business-class residential complex in Kharkov for more than 3.5 million hryvnia - Anna became its owner in the summer of 2021, even before her appointment to a position in customs.
“It’s not even a year since I’ve been working at customs. I barely survive on my salary of about 20 thousand hryvnia. I bought an apartment before I got a job, they gave it to me,” explains Asanova.
In the “Vehicles” section, the woman lists two cars: a 2018 Toyota CH-R for more than 600 thousand hryvnia and a 2018 Mercedes-Benz for almost 750 thousand hryvnia.
According to information from the main service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anna is now the owner only of a Mercedes, the ownership of which she received in March 2023, that is, at the height of a full-scale war.
“My ex-husband gave this to me. You see, before this I had wealthy husbands who gave me these gifts. I didn’t think it needed to be declared,” says the official.
From the researched social networks and profiles of customs workers, it becomes clear that they lead a glamorous life, do not always know the size of their salary, forget to declare something, and are given everything as a gift.
In response to a journalist's request, the State Customs Service explains:
“The State Customs Service of Ukraine analyzes the documents of candidates applying for positions in the State Customs Service for compliance with the requirements. Internal checks regarding candidates for positions in the State Customs Service of Ukraine are not provided for by law.”
In the same response, the Customs Service notes that it only checks the fact that a candidate for a position has filed a declaration, and the maintenance of the state register of declarations is, accordingly, entrusted to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
