During the war, Vitaly Nikushin, judge of the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky District Court of the Kyiv Region, declared the purchase of two cars at a reduced cost in order to avoid taxation.
Nikushin in 2022 bought a Mercedes-Benz G 350 (2013) for 10 thousand hryvnia, and at the end of 2023 he bought a Renault Zoe (2017) for 5 thousand hryvnia. The judge included these cars in his declarations. At the same time, on the secondary market the cars cost 70 thousand dollars.
In a conversation with journalists, Nikushin noted that people who are not selling their first car do not want to pay tax, so they indicate a low price.
“In fact, they receive a different amount on the receipt, so I mark the amount that the seller dictates if I want to buy a car. If you want, agree, if you want, don’t agree,” says Nikushin.
The judge says he understands everything about the moral side and the actual avoidance of paying taxes during the war.
“I understand all this perfectly, but I’m not the only one, you understand this too. The issue here is that the seller didn't want to pay 6 or 7% on the sale of the car, so he undervalued the car. Well, does the law allow you to do this or not?” - explains Nikushin.
The judge also admitted that the real price of a Mercedes-Benz G 35 in imperfect condition was almost 30 thousand dollars.
According to Nikushin, he later sold the said car and purchased the same thing, but with a more powerful engine - a Mercedes-Benz G 500 (2013).
Nikushin noted that he declared the car at the real price - 529.2 thousand hryvnia or a little more than 14 thousand dollars. The judge explained this price by saying that he bought the car when it was burnt out and has not yet restored it.
Another car, Renault Zoe, which the judge purchased and declared in 2023 for 5 thousand hryvnia, was purchased under a similar scheme.
“If people are in the car business and are not selling their first car, they don’t want to indicate the real value because they don’t want to pay a lot of tax. There is an estimated value that is indicated at the time of purchase. If, for example, the value of [real estate] property cannot yet be understated, then cars can, and people use it,” says Nikushin.
Finally, when asked by a journalist about the payment of the official 15 thousand hryvnia, the judge admitted that all other funds paid for the purchased cars were used to bypass taxes.
Also in 2023, Nikushin purchased a GAZ 2410 (1990) for 35 thousand hryvnia. The judge also owns a Honda CBR (2006) motorcycle purchased in 2017 and an Audi A5 (2012) purchased in 2021.
The judge lives in a house of 178 square meters in the village of Gorenichi near Kyiv. Nikushin's house was registered under his mother's name. The judge has two non-residential premises: 57 sq.m. in Kyiv and 35 sq.m. in Irpen. A man is the owner of 1 hectare of land in the Kyiv region, purchased in 2021 for almost 208 thousand hryvnia.
In 2023, Nikushin received 1.08 million hryvnia as a judge’s salary and almost 100 thousand hryvnia in pension.
In 2011, the High Council of Justice submitted a proposal to the President of Ukraine to dismiss Vitaly Nikushin for violating the oath. In 2019, the VRP qualified the work of a judge in one of the cases as “a clear violation of the law, incompatible with the honest and conscientious performance of the duties of a judge, a full, comprehensive and objective consideration of the court case,” which is why Nikushin was fired. Already on December 26, 2023, the judge was reinstated as a judge of the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky District Court of the Kyiv Region.
The father of the judge of the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky court Vitaly Nikushin, Viktor Viktorovich Nikushin, was also a judge in the appeal court of the Vinnytsia region and resigned in 2017. Now the man receives monthly payments from the state for life.
