NABU detective had to defend himself for false declaration - he says he accidentally underestimated the value of his property
Kyiv • UNN
Viktor Yarema, a senior detective with the NABU, explained the discrepancies in his income declaration. He called it a “mechanical mistake” due to inaccurate information from his wife and promised to fix it.
NABU senior detective Viktor Yarema, who was caught manipulating forensic examinations, "mechanically" confused the value of the apartment his wife sold in his income declaration. This became known during his interview for the post of deputy head of the detective unit of the Third Main Detective Unit of the NABU, UNN reports.
During the interview, the Commission reported that no signs of illicit enrichment or unjustified assets were found in Viktor Yarema's 2023 declaration, but there were several questions about the information. In particular, why the report indicated the amount of UAH 766 thousand for the apartment sold, but in fact it was sold for UAH 859 thousand. Also, one of the buyers of the apartment was not listed.
"Indeed, this is a mechanical error, which I learned about when I received a question from the NACP. I can explain it as follows: my wife was selling her apartment because we are now living separately due to martial law - she is in Rivne, I am in Kyiv - and I filled out the declaration according to her words over the phone. She has no legal education, and she dictated to me from the contract not the actual value, but the estimated value, according to the appraiser's opinion. I noted it - it was 766 thousand and she dictated one owner... Indeed, I made a mechanical error, there are two owners who bought this apartment, and the amounts indicated side by side are the estimated and actual. That's the discrepancy, I really missed it," Yarema said.
He also noted that today he was going to inform the NACP about this "mistake," but of course he had not yet had time.
The commission also had questions about the cost of the Nissan Sentra he purchased in 2020. The declaration indicated the cost of just over 2 thousand dollars.
"This is the price according to the customs declaration, as I bought the car at a Copart auction in Canada, so this is the cost. With all the customs duties and repairs, this car, since it was significantly mechanically damaged, reached the market price in Ukraine - 9-10 thousand dollars," Yarema explained.
Recall
Earlier, the NACP recorded conflict of interest for senior detective Viktor Yarema because he ordered examinations from a company registered to the daughter of his former colleague from the Rivne Regional Prosecutor's Office.
In response to a request from UNN, the NACP reportedthat they refrain from checking who NABU detectives order examinations from.
Given the repeated facts of detectives manipulating forensic examinations, the idea of NABU Head Semen Kryvonos to create his own expert institution for the bureau looks extremely alarming. It was also criticized by the legal community, because in this case, the number of "painted" examinations may increase many times over, which could lead to manipulation of the evidence base and jeopardize the objectivity of justice.
In addition, practice shows that anti-corruption agencies created by "one idea" turn a blind eye to each other's violations. For example, recently, the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Smirnov statedthat some NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors acquired elite assets that they registered in their mothers' names.
At the same time, the NACP did not check either NABU detectives or SAPO prosecutors - , arguing that the information provided by Smirnov "does not contain factual data that could be verified within the rights and powers" of the agency.
