Volyn tax official Volodymyr Poberezhnyi, his 21-year-old son, wife, and mother have become owners of 13 real estate properties valued at more than 20 million hryvnias ($446,726) over the past several years, a Slidstvo.Info investigation has found.
In 2026 alone, Poberezhnyi’s wife and student son purchased assets worth nearly 12 million hryvnias ($268,036). The official himself is mentioned in a case involving an organized tax evasion scheme by a group of businessmen.
Valeriy Poberezhnyi, 21, is the son of the head of the Lutsk department of the Western Interregional Office of the State Tax Service for Work with Large Taxpayers. He is a student at a Kyiv university and spends his free time dancing and playing DJ sets. For several years, Valeriy appeared in his father’s declarations. After turning 18, he disappeared from the official’s declaration and opened a sole proprietorship providing design services.
In the past year, however, Valeriy Poberezhnyi has become the owner of real estate worth an estimated 7 million hryvnias ($156,354). In 2025, the Kyiv-based student bought three properties in a new luxury residential complex in central Lviv: an apartment of nearly 50 square meters (listed in official documents at 3.2 million hryvnias or $73,360); similar units now cost a bit more than 4 million hryvnias or $89,345), a premises for 330,000 hryvnias ($7,371), and a parking spot in the underground garage. According to real estate sales sites, a parking spot in this complex can now cost 1.5 million hryvnias ($33,872).
In addition, several months ago, Valeriy became the owner of property in the city of Lutsk: a commercial-like premises of 69 square meters and a parking spot, purchased together for about 1.8 million hryvnias ($40,189).
Slidstvo.Info journalists spoke with Valeriy Poberezhnyi at one of Kyiv’s dance studios, where the student works as an instructor. When asked about the source of money for all these purchases, the young man replied briefly: “I do not give comments,” and asked us to leave the premises.
Viktoriya Poberezhna, the tax official’s wife, purchased property worth nearly 5 million hryvnias ($111,682) in 2026 alone. Among the acquisitions were assets in the same Lviv residential complex as her son: a parking spot for 280,000 hryvnias ($6,254) and a non-residential premises of 85 square meters. The combined value of these objects exceeds 2 million hryvnias ($44,673).
In March, Poberezhna became the owner of a 2025 Volkswagen car. On sales sites, such a vehicle costs an average of 2.7 million hryvnias ($60,970).
In the past year alone, the wife and student son of the Volyn tax official have become owners of property worth nearly 12 million hryvnias ($268,036).
Poberezhna has been registered as a sole proprietor since 2012. In his 2025 declaration, Volodymyr Poberezhnyi lists her entrepreneurial income at 4.7 million hryvnias ($106,096). Her main activity is fitness centers. The 153-square-meter gym premises belong to the tax official himself. Journalists visited the gym posing as clients. The trainer-administrator said only three trainers work there, and there are no lines.
Journalists also spoke off the record with two owners of similar gyms. Both said the income of nearly 5 million hryvnias ($111,682) from a gym of that size with three trainers does not look realistic. Slidstvo.Info then called Viktoriya Poberezhna. Like her son, she said she does not comment on her activities.
In autumn 2024, Volodymyr Poberezhnyi’s mother, Valentyna Pylypivna, became the owner of an apartment of 68 square meters in a new premium residential complex in Lutsk. According to real estate sales sites, the price per square meter there starts at 42,000 to 44,000 hryvnias ($960), meaning the apartment could have cost at least 2.8 million hryvnias ($64,191).
Valentyna Pylypivna also owns a house near Lutsk. Journalists tried to find her but spoke only with neighbors, who said she may have been in Italy for a long time.
Valentyna Pylypivna is closely connected to her son: In 2014, she bought a new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which her son Volodymyr Poberezhnyi has used since then. In May 2025, she registered a sole proprietorship for the rental and operation of her own or leased real estate.
Volodymyr Poberezhnyi himself bought a townhouse in a cottage community near Lutsk for nearly 2.5 million hryvnias ($57,313). It appears renovations are underway.
Another property is the Poberezhnyis’ apartment, purchased in 2020 in a luxury residential complex in central Lutsk, along with a storage unit and parking spot. They declared the 70-square-meter apartment cost a little more than 1 million hryvnias ($37,200). Similar renovated apartments in this complex now cost 4 million to 5 million hryvnias ($89,345–$111,682).
“I assume that, given that he is a tax official, he would try to justify all these assets either as gifts from his mother or as his wife’s income from her sole proprietorship. Because his salary is not high enough to afford buying all these assets,” said Antonina Volkotrub, an analyst at the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
As journalists learned from an obtained court ruling, Volodymyr Poberezhnyi is mentioned in a criminal proceeding involving a criminal scheme to evade taxes. Investigators believe the scheme operated from 2021. The then-head of the Volyn Oblast Tax Service enlisted Volodymyr Poberezhnyi, “with whom he had previously worked and maintains friendly relations at present, for the purpose of concealing his own illegal activities related to receiving undue benefits for his ‘assistance.’”
Volodymyr Poberezhnyi did not respond to calls or messages from journalists. The tax service where he works also did not respond to a request from Slidstvo.Info.
