Millions in gifts from relatives in officials' declarations: what typical violations are revealed by inspection

In the declarations of Ukrainian public servants, million-dollar gifts from relatives are increasingly common. At the same time, according to NACP data, public servants declare amounts of about UAH 3.4 billion annually. This is reported by UNN with reference to the publication of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.

Details

According to the National Agency, public servants in their submitted declarations:

• for 2021, 24.2 thousand declarations indicated cash gifts totaling UAH 3.48 billion;
• for 2022 – 20.3 thousand declarations – UAH 3.92 billion;
• for 2023 – 24.2 thousand declarations – UAH 3.52 billion;
• for 2024 – 25.4 thousand declarations – UAH 4.39 billion.

According to the analysis of information from the Unified State Register of Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Government Functions, the practice of reflecting significant amounts of received gifts in monetary form in declarations remains stable in recent years.

However, NACP also reminds that gifts in monetary form must be declared if their amount, received from one person (group of persons) cumulatively during the year, exceeds five living wages.

Everyone, including public servants, can have wealthy and generous relatives and other close persons. However, some dishonest officials declare supposedly donated money to legalize illegal assets.

NACP identifies violations in declaring income in the form of gifts during full checks of declarations.

Among examples of such exposure:

• donated funds exceed the legal income of the donors themselves;
• declarants cannot provide supporting documents regarding the receipt of such gifts.

The Agency provides officially recorded examples:

In the 2022 declaration, the head of the Ochakiv City Council of Mykolaiv Oblast indicated a gift received from his mother for over UAH 9.1 million based on a notarized gift agreement.

During a full check, it was established that the amount of the gift significantly exceeds the mother's income. Signs of illicit enrichment were found - Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The gift is too expensive for the donors, and financial capacity is not confirmed, - states NACP in the case recorded in the declaration of the head of the Artsyz State Notary Office in Odesa Oblast. It refers to an item worth over UAH 18.28 million.

Thus, as NACP indicates, there are numerous cases where declarants, to confirm the sources of funds indicated in section 12 "Monetary assets" of the declaration, refer to supposedly received gifts from close persons.

The secretary of the court session of the Uzhhorod City District Court of Zakarpattia Oblast declared over UAH 8 million in cash in her 2023 declaration, the sources of which were indicated as a gift from godparents. However, during a full check, no circumstances confirming the receipt of such a gift were established.

These examples illustrate typical cases of declaring significant income based on gifts from relatives without confirming the sources of funds, - concludes NACP.

Recall

NACP checked over 1.5 thousand declarations of officials for the first half of 2025. Every third contained knowingly false data totaling over UAH 5.8 billion.