Minister of Agrarian Policy Koval lives in apartment of his pensioner mother-in-law worth almost UAH 18 million - "Slidstvo.info". VIDEO
The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitalii Koval and his family live in a 170-square-metre apartment in an elite residential complex in Kyiv. The apartment belongs to Vitalii Koval's mother-in-law, Halyna Baraniuk, who apparently had no official income to buy it.
This is stated in an investigation by Slidstvo.info, Censor.NET reports.
The apartment was purchased in July 2021
Journalists investigating the new minister's declaration noted: "Vitalii Koval declared that since August 2023, his wife has been renting a 170-square-metre apartment in Kyiv. The entire family of the Minister lives in this apartment. The owner of the apartment is the minister's mother-in-law, Halyna Baraniuk, who bought it in July 2021.
The journalists found out that this apartment is located in a premium residential complex built 6 years ago and located near Holosiivskyi Park in Kyiv.
From archived ads from 2020-2021, investigators learned that at that time, renovated apartments of similar size cost between $750,000 and $925,000. At the end of June 2021, an apartment of an identical size - 170 square metres - was for sale in the residential complex where Minister Koval now lives. The advert also stated that it was after the builders, with screed and plaster. This apartment on a high floor, according to the advert found, cost 17.7 million hryvnias ($650,000 at the dollar exchange rate of the time).
Koval's mother-in-law is a pensioner who used to work as an accountant
According to investigators, 69-year-old Halyna Baraniuk has lived in Chernivtsi all her life. She is a pensioner and used to work as an accountant at various enterprises in Chernivtsi.
The document provided to journalists contains information that Halyna Baraniuk earned a total of UAH 495,000 between 2014 and 2020. This means that her monthly income averaged UAH 6,000 per month over the seven years in question. From the real estate register, journalists learned that Halyna Baraniuk did not sell any real estate that could allow her to buy an apartment in Kyiv for UAH 17.7 million in 2021.
The investigators called Halyna Baraniuk. When asked about the origin of the money for the apartment her son-in-law declared and where he and his family lived, she replied: "So what if he declared it," and hung up.
"Slidstvo.Info" journalists also examined Vitalii Koval's declarations for 2019-2021 and found no information about loans that he or his wife could have provided to Halyna Baraniuk to buy the apartment. There is also no "hole" of UAH 17.7 million in the minister's declarations for 2019-2021 that could explain the origin of the property.
Minister Koval did not respond to calls and messages from journalists about the apartment he lives in.
Baraniuk bought an apartment when Koval was head of the Rivne Regional State Administration
In the summer of 2021, when he bought a premium apartment in the capital, Vitalii Koval was the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration, a position he was appointed to by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in autumn 2019. From the very beginning, Koval was a representative of the "Servant of the People" political party.
The Rivne-based media outlet "Chetverta Vlada" previously reported that a year before Vitalii Koval was appointed head of the Rivne Regional State Administration in 2018, he had more than UAH 1,300,000 in debts and tax liabilities. At that time, Vitalii Koval earned just over UAH 8,000 a month, managing "Sanako" LLC and BBV "Montazh" LLC.
Myroslava Prymak, a journalist with the "Chetverta Vlada", told "Slidstvo.Info" that when Koval came to lead the Rivne region, those who started receiving budget funds, in particular for the repair and maintenance of the region's roads, changed dramatically.
"Before he took over as head of the administration, he ran the 'VVV Montazh' construction firm for quite a while. And this company received contracts. Our journalists wrote about it. And what changed? They simply bought out 'Rivneavtoshlyakhbud', I think, because there is no official data. This company began to take over almost all road maintenance in the Rivne region, a large chunk of it, and, in fact, the current capital repairs of roads. We traced the connection between 'Rivneavtoshlyakhbud' and thought it was Vitalii Koval's influence, because 'Rivneshlyakhbud' simply rented equipment and bought asphalt from this company," the journalist said.
In addition, the "Bihus.Info" media outlet pointed to the connection between "VVV Montazhbud" and "Rivneavtoshlyakhbud". In particular, the "Bihus.Info" investigative report states that this company, which has existed since 2001, began receiving multimillion-dollar contracts with Koval's arrival. This is confirmed by an analyst from the "Prozorro" service. Since its inception, "Rivneavtoshlyakhbud" has received contracts worth UAH 5 billion, 4.5 of which were awarded after Koval took over as head of the region in September 2019. This money was used to build, repair and maintain the region's roads.
Vitalii Koval was appointed Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food on 5 September 2024, having previously headed the State Property Fund and worked as the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration for four years.
