The Kherson court issued a decision in the case of Volodymyr Khvostov, a deputy of the Kherson Regional Council, who concealed information about his funds in the 2022 declaration.
The corresponding court ruling is posted on the YouControl portal.
As MOST reported, during the inspection of Khvostov’s declaration by the NACP a number of questions arose regarding the value of his assets.
In particular, regarding hundreds of land plots, apartments in Kyiv and Kherson, an understated value of a Land Rover and failure to declare a boat. However, the subject of this particular case were the deputy’s monetary assets in banks.
The court found that Khvostov did not indicate in the declaration a bank account in which more than 28 thousand euros were held at the end of 2022. He also understated the balances on accounts in two other banks. In total, the amount of hidden money amounted to 1.33 million hryvnias.
During the court hearing, at which Khvostov attended via video, he did not admit his guilt and claimed that because his declaration – is a huge 200-page document that he could not fill out himself due to its complexity and the large number of business assets, his accountant, financial director and lawyer handled the paperwork.
The deputy assured the court that his authorized representative knew about all the funds he had, and that the failure to declare was a technical error.
His defender also tried to convince the court that one can simply make a mistake in the declaration, and no one intended to deceive the state. He also argued that the declaration system is too complicated for entrepreneurs and is more suited to ordinary officials who do not have so many accounts and companies.
However, the judge did not accept these arguments. She explained that only the official who signs the declaration is responsible for its truthfulness. Using the help of lawyers does not relieve the deputy of the duty to personally check every figure.
The court decided that the deputy treated his duties negligently, which under the law is considered a violation.
In the end, the court sentenced the deputy to a fine of 17 thousand hryvnias. He must also pay a court fee of 605 hryvnias.