Millions in the declaration: the inspection of the customs officer Andrii Pikha showed discrepancies of almost UAH 10 million

NAZK conducted a full review of the declaration of Lviv customs officer Andrii Pikha and found almost 10 million hryvnias of unreliable data. Special questions were raised by his wife’s savings, the origin of which could not be substantiated.

According to the official report on the inspection results of the declaration, the head of the customs clearance department No. 4 at the “Ugryniv” post, Pih, provided unreliable information. The main problem concerns the significant savings of his wife, Diana Pih. The document states that she has 193,000 dollars, 128,000 euros, and 750,000 hryvnias in cash, totaling 9.9 million hryvnias at the NBU exchange rate at the end of 2021.

However, data from the register of taxpayers refutes this information. Between 1998 and 2021, Diana Pih earned only 189.5 thousand hryvnias and was not engaged in commercial activities. Answering the inspectors’ questions, Andriy Pykh stated that his wife had accumulated funds even before marriage, allegedly by selling property rights to non-residential premises in ZBK “Diplomat Tower” in 2017 for 10.7 million hryvnias.

However, NAZK established that the buyer of these rights for the period 1998-2016 earned only 5.9 million hryvnias (excluding taxes and expenses), which calls into question his ability to pay 10.7 million for real estate that was not actually built.

The NAZK’s request to the housing and construction cooperative “Diplomat Tower” revealed even more inconsistencies. Representatives of the cooperative reported that Diana Pih contributed 7.4 million hryvnias not in money, but in building materials. But the cooperative did not provide any documents confirming this information. Moreover, in 2017, the court prohibited any actions on the site where construction was planned, and local authorities warned citizens about the risks associated with this project.

During the inspection, Diana Pih confirmed that she had indeed transferred building materials worth 7.4 million hryvnias to the cooperative. Still, she could not explain where she got such funds or provide evidence of their origin. NAZK noted that it has never been an entrepreneur and could not have access to such a volume of materials.

After analyzing the declaration, the NAKC concluded that Andriy Pykh’s actions constituted a criminal offense under part 2 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – the introduction of knowingly false information into the declaration. This article provides for a fine of 68 to 85 thousand hryvnias, community service, or imprisonment.

Earlier, NAZK found a violation of 6.8 million hryvnias in the declaration of another Lviv customs officer, known for his fight against smuggling. Also, the deputy chief of staff of one of the courts in the Lviv region did not declare a gift of 40,000 dollars, claiming she did not know she needed to indicate the donated funds.