HACC recovered over UAH 4 million from ex-minister Koval due to mother-in-law's apartment
The High Anti-Corruption Court declared unjustified 53.15% of an apartment in Kyiv, registered to a relative of former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitalii Koval, and ordered to recover UAH 4.35 million from him to the state. This concerns the apartment, the source of funds for the purchase of which was earlier investigated by journalists of "Slidstvo.Info".
On September 2, the HACC partially satisfied the lawsuit of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office on recognizing assets as unjustified.
The court established the unjustifiability of 53.15% of an apartment in one of the elite residential complexes of Kyiv. The ownership right to the property is registered to a relative of the former minister.
The court ordered to recover from Koval the value of this part of the asset – UAH 4,353,176 – to the state. The court did not confiscate the apartment itself, therefore the arrest imposed on it in May 2025 was lifted. Other measures to secure the lawsuit remain in force.
According to the SAPO, the relative of Koval purchased an apartment with an area of more than 170 sq. m in 2021. The value of the property according to documents was UAH 8.1 million.
Since 2023, Koval began to indicate the apartment in his declarations as the place of residence of the family and the object of lease by his wife. However, the collected evidence, according to the prosecution, indicated that the official and his family used the housing much earlier than it was reflected in the declarations.
The SAPO also analyzed the income and expenses of Koval's relative and came to the conclusion of partial impossibility to purchase the apartment at the expense of legal income. The version of obtaining a loan of almost UAH 5.5 million by her is considered refuted by the collected evidence, according to the prosecution.
The lawsuit was based on the materials of the NABU and NACP, the prosecution's own evidence, as well as information from the journalist agency "Slidstvo.Info".
In September 2024, journalists published an investigation about the apartment where Koval lived with his family at that time. They established that its owner is his mother-in-law Halyna Baraniuk, who purchased it in July 2021.
According to the information of the journalists, Baraniuk was a pensioner and previously worked as an accountant in Chernivtsi. For 2014-2020, her total official income, according to the sources of "Slidstvo.Info", was about UAH 495 thousand.
The journalists also found an archive listing for the sale in the same residential complex of an apartment of similar area and condition. In June 2021, UAH 17.7 million, or about $650 thousand at the then exchange rate, was asked for it.
This amount is not the court-established value of Koval's apartment. The SAPO in the materials of the current lawsuit states that the official's relative purchased the specific object for UAH 8.1 million.
After the publication of the journalistic investigation, the NABU began checking the origin of funds for the real estate. Subsequently, the materials of this check became one of the grounds for the lawsuit for civil confiscation.
The HACC decision has not yet entered into final force and may be appealed to the Appeals Chamber of the court within 30 days.
Based on materials: High Anti-Corruption Court, Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Slidstvo.Info
