Fraudulent Data in NABU Bitcoin Declarations Raises Corruption Concerns

The publication «Ukrainian News» has discovered unreliable or fake information in 15 out of 23 declarations of employees from the NABU that mentioned cryptocurrency. Journalists suggested that officials might be using this method to obscure financial misconduct.

Among those mentioned is senior detective Alexander Rykovtsev. His declaration indicates that in 2016, his wife purchased 12.49 BTC (valued at $1.1 million at the time of the investigation). However, the media found out that the wallet in question had not conducted any transactions since it was never registered on the network.

Senior detective Stanislav Braverman has also come under scrutiny, with journalists uncovering his purchase of cryptocurrency worth 1.3 million hryvnias, which was sold on the same day.

Senior detective Alexander Moiseyev caught the investigators’ attention as well, having declared the purchase of digital assets worth 820,000 hryvnias in one day and selling them for 757,000 hryvnias the next.

Other officials’ documents revealed amounts reaching up to 1 million hryvnias. Journalists believe that the wallets listed are likely to be fraudulent.

«The circulation of cryptocurrency with millions being deposited and withdrawn into the wallets of detectives suggests a potential scheme for laundering corrupt funds. […] Investigators and the NAPC should determine the source of these funds and their purpose,» the media added.

As a reminder, according to OpenDataBot, Ukrainian officials submitted 2,113 declarations for 2024 that mentioned crypto assets. The most popular cryptocurrencies among government employees were USDT, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.