State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) official Oleksandr Hovorushchak and his family have purchased houses, apartments, and cars worth 35 million hryvnias ($848,904). The luxury properties in Kyiv and its suburbs started appearing after Hovorushchak joined the SBI and headed the department investigating crimes by law enforcement and judges, a Slidstvo.Info investigation reveals.
The video has English subtitles.
In 2023, Hovorushchak’s wife, Kateryna Hovorushchak, became the owner of a land plot and a newly built house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, a suburb of Kyiv located 13 kilometers from the city center. She, like her husband Oleksandr Hovorushchak, works at the SBI, selecting personnel and organizing training. According to the official’s declaration, the house, measuring 165 square meters, was purchased for 1.45 million hryvnias ($35,192), and the land plot for 3 million hryvnias ($72,811).
Kateryna and Oleksandr Hovorushchak
When journalists visited the site, neighbors informed them that the couple had moved into the house about a month ago. The journalists also saw a white Honda CR-V leaving the property, the same model owned by Kateryna Hovorushchak according to the declaration.
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the Hovorushchak family has recently been living
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the Hovorushchak family has recently been living
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the Hovorushchak family has recently been living
The journalists found an online listing for a nearly identical house with renovations near the official’s residence, priced at $350,000 or 14.5 million hryvnias.
Screenshot from an advertisement for the sale of a house almost identical to the Hovorushchak family’s property (September 2014)
Posing as clients, the journalists arranged to view a nearly identical house. The realtor informed them that the house was already sold, but another similar one was available nearby, although without renovations.
During the viewing, the journalists accidentally met the developer who had sold the land to the Hovorushchak family. “I don’t know why the land is so expensive. Such a plot costs $150,000,” the man said. This means that the land alone, as per the developer, costs 6 million hryvnias. In the official’s declaration, the value of the land plot is half that amount, at 3 million hryvnias ($72,811).
The journalists learned from the developer that the family bought the house without renovations. In the previously mentioned listing, the house with renovations cost 14.5 million hryvnias ($351,921). To estimate the approximate cost of the house without renovations, the journalists consulted a designer.
Anzhelika Onufriyenko
Anzhelika Onufriyenko, an interior designer, noted that a developer’s renovation is cheaper. After reviewing the listing photos, the designer estimated the renovation cost at $800 per square meter. “Multiplying by 175 square meters, that would be $140,000,” the designer calculated.
Therefore, the house from the listing, if the renovation costs are subtracted, could have cost $210,000, or about 8.5 million hryvnias. Together with the land, the market value of the house without renovations could be 14.5 million hryvnias ($351,921), which is three times more than what the official declared (almost 4.5 million hryvnias ($109,217)).
“The price of the house looks clearly understated. We see that neighboring houses are significantly more expensive,” notes Antonina Volkotrub, an analyst at the Anti-Corruption Action Center. “It seems like the value was understated to avoid ‘unwanted questions’, so everything adds up arithmetically. But if all your funds and assets are honest, there is no need to do this. You simply state the actual purchase amount and don’t play around with understating and then justifying why it is so.”
Antonina Volkotrub, analyst at the Anti-Corruption Action Center (left)
The journalists also discovered that the SBI official’s family has close ties with Kateryna Hovorushchak’s parents. Over several years, the official has declared cash gifts (200,000 hryvnias ($4,854) annually) from her father, Kostiantyn Vyalyi. She also uses her mother Liudmyla Vyala’s parking space.
In February 2024, Liudmyla and Kostiantyn Vyalyi also became owners of a house and land plot in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, near their daughter and son-in-law. According to the State Register of Property Rights, the house, measuring almost 155 square meters, along with the land plot, cost the couple 7 million hryvnias ($169,893).
Since 2020, Kateryna Hovorushchak’s parents have purchased two parking spaces in new buildings, two two-room apartments of 69 square meters each in new buildings, and a non-residential space. According to the journalists’ calculations, this property could be worth 8.5 million hryvnias ($206,299).
In 2022, Kostiantyn Vyalyi became the owner of two cars: a Toyota Land Cruiser 2020 and a Mercedes-Benz ML350 2011. The Land Cruiser can currently cost around 2.5 million hryvnias ($60,676), and the Mercedes around 1 million hryvnias ($24,270). In 2024, Liudmyla Vyala became the owner of a new Suzuki Jimny 2024, which officially costs at least 937,000 hryvnias ($22,741).
Interestingly, all these expensive purchases, totaling around 20 million hryvnias ($485,408), were made by Kateryna Hovorushchak’s parents starting in 2020, the year their son-in-law obtained a position at the SBI. When asked by the Slidstvo.Info journalists about the source of the money for these purchases, Kostiantyn Vyalyi said he worked and paid taxes, but hung up when asked about his current employment. The journalists found that all of Vyalyi’s work activities were related to mines and metallurgical enterprises in Donbas, but he has apparently not been working since the spring of 2022.
According to the journalists’ calculations, the Hovorushchak and Vyalyi families together purchased real estate and cars worth 35 million hryvnias ($849,465) between 2020 and 2024. Oleksandr Hovorushchak, who worked as a prosecutor before joining the SBI, refused to answer questions from Slidstvo.Info about the source of the money, claiming that everything is listed in his declaration.
