In December 2023, Judge of the Cherkasy Court of Appeal Oleksiy Novikov became the owner of a luxury car Mersedes-Benz GLE 450 4MATIC 2023, which cost about 4 million hryvnias or over $105,000.
Slidstvo.Info journalists analyzed the declaration of Cherkasy Court of Appeal Judge Oleksiy Novikov and talked to him about the costly car he purchased in the second year of the full-scale war.
Oleksiy Novikov purchased a Mersedes from Cherkasy Auto on December 21, 2023. The judge declared the car on December 28, indicating the cost of 3,978,216 hryvnias ($105,192).
Judge Oleksiy Novikov (second from right) / Photo: Cherkasy Court of Appeal
Journalists of Slidstvo.info asked Novikov about the need to make an expensive purchase during the war.
The judge explained that the whole family was saving for a significant purchase like a new vehicle – something done “once in a lifetime.” Novikov is okay with his colleagues’ purchasing expensive cars during the war and says: “As long people did not steal, saved money, and helped the army, then there is nothing wrong with that.”
In 2021, Judge Oleksiy Novikov declared 3.25 million hryvnias ($119,275) in income (including 3,080,149 hryvnias ($113,041) in salary), and 1.5 million hryvnias ($55,050) and 9,426 euros ($11,151) in savings.
In 2022, the judge declared 2.82 million hryvnias ($87,702) in income, including 2.62 million hryvnias ($81,482) in salary, and 3.785 million hryvnias ($117,714) and 3,430 euros ($3,615) in savings.
The judge’s wife earned 414,000 hryvnias ($15,194) and 411,000 hryvnias ($12,782) in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Together, the couple owns an 87-square-meter apartment, a 70-square-meter garden house, three land plots with a total area of 1,151 square meters, and three garages.
While judges in Ukraine receive significant salaries in the hundreds of thousands of hryvnias range, some may question whether high-value purchases are appropriate optics during the war.
“Buying such expensive things during a full-scale war is the most immoral act. While the whole country is giving five hryvnias each for drones, helmets, body armor, others can afford such luxurious purchases. Society must and definitely has the right to ask these questions about the expediency and legality of the origin of the property,” comments Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chairman of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation.
On December 10, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention opened public access to the Register of Declarations. Slidstvo.info journalists have already written about a judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court who purchased a luxury BMW X6 for almost $100,000 in September 2022.
