The President of Energoatom never declared his mother-in-law’s house

Kotin’s mother-in-law purchased a house and land near Kiev worth about UAH 7 million, and the government official himself and his family settled there

The President of Energoatom, Petr Kotin, in his declaration for 2023 did not indicate living in a house in an elite village near Kiev, which was previously established in an investigation by Scheme (Radio Liberty).

Journalists discovered that the mother-in-law of the president of Energoatom in the summer of 2023 purchased a house and land near Kiev worth about 7 million hryvnia, and the government official himself and his family settled there. At the same time, the investigation said, to purchase this property, as well as three more plots in a village in the Kiev region worth almost a million hryvnia, Kotin’s relative did not have sufficient official income. In a written comment to Schemes, Petr Kotin confirmed that he was visiting this house and promised to reflect this in the declaration.

Thus, in the property declaration for 2023, filed on March 29 of this year, Petr Kotin indicated that he lives in an apartment in Kyiv with an area of ​​156 square meters, which belongs to his wife.

But “Schemes” found out that in June 2023, the mother of Peter Kotin’s wife became the owner of a residential building with a plot of land near Kiev, where the government official himself settled. This is a two-story mansion with a total area of ​​288 square meters, which has access to a private lake, access to which is open only to residents of the cottage town. According to the purchase and sale agreement, the house and the land under it cost Kotin’s 70-year-old relative a total of almost 7 million hryvnia. Of these, 6 and a half million for a house and 350 thousand for land.

“Schemes” managed to identify this house using an open public account on the social network of the daughter of the President of Energoatom, who has regularly published photos and videos from there since June 2023.

In December, a film crew recorded how the official car used by the president of Energoatom drove into the territory where this mansion is located. Subsequently, the same Scheme car was noticed at the entrance to the main office of Energoatom.

In a response to a request from Schemes on the eve of the publication of the investigation, Kotin admitted that he actually uses this house. “I actually visit this premises and do not hide this information. What I have indicated will be indicated in the declaration, the filing deadline for which has not yet arrived,” Kotin said in December 2023.

When asked by journalists why the official did not reflect living in this house in the declaration for 2023, Petr Kotin has not yet answered.

In addition to the house, Kotin’s mother-in-law acquired three plots of land in 2021 - a total of 30 acres - in another elite village in the Kyiv region. In total, she then paid about 40 thousand dollars for this property (or more than a million hryvnia at the then exchange rate). According to advertisements on specialized websites, one hundred square meters of land in that area in the winter of 2021 cost from 2.5 to 5 thousand dollars. Thus, 30 acres of land could then cost twice or three times more: from 75 to 150 thousand dollars.

To acquire all this property, Kotin’s mother-in-law did not have her own official income, the investigation says. Like her husband, Kotin's father-in-law. Wife Natalya Kotina, according to public declarations by the president of Energoatom, had neither savings nor wages to help her mother buy all this property.

In a written response to Schemes’ request, the head of the state-owned enterprise named several sources of funds that allowed his mother-in-law to purchase the above-mentioned property. In particular, these are, according to him, her family’s savings “over more than 50 years of working life”; cash belonging to her close relatives, who entrusted her with taking her out of the occupied territories, as well as borrowed funds - counting on the future sale of property that is currently under occupation.

“According to her, the main reason for her decision was the reasonable prices at which the previous owners offered the property for sale. At that time, these prices corresponded to current market conditions, taking into account the status and condition of the property,” Kotin noted in his response to the Schemes.

In January 2024, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption reported that it had begun monitoring the lifestyle of Energoatom President Petr Kotin. This was stated in the NACP’s response to the appeal of a group of people’s deputies from Golos. The people's deputies' appeal was based on facts from the Schemes investigation.