Tax officer-"servant" Khotenko borrowed almost UAH 3 million from her 12-year-old son and received two apartments as gift from her mother - Russian citizen
In 2018, Olena Khotenko, the acting head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Sumy region, who is also a deputy of the Rivne City Council from the Servant of the People party, borrowed UAH 2.8 million from her son, who was only 12 years old at the time. And during the full-scale war, the tax officer-servant received two apartments as a gift from her mother, a Russian citizen.
This is stated in the investigation of the Anti-Corruption Centre "Mezha", Censor.NET reports.
Who is Olena Khotenko?
Olena Khotenko is a deputy of the Rivne City Council from the Servant of the People party. Since August 2024, the 'servant' from the Rivne City Council has been in charge of the Sumy Regional Tax Service.
According to Martyna Bohuslavets, head of the Anti-Corruption Center "Mezha," Khotenko also engages in volunteer work and is an expert on fiscal policy.
A loan of UAH 2.8 million from her 12-year-old son
In 2018, Khotenko borrowed UAH 2.8 million from her son, who was 12 years old at the time. This loan is still listed in Khotenko's declaration for the previous year.
At the same time, Khotenko, who owes her son almost UAH 3 million, lent $30,000 to a third party.
Today, the People's Deputy son is a successful 18-year-old individual entrepreneur who, according to his mother's declaration, received UAH 3 million in income last year.
In 2023, Khotenko herself earned UAH 2.66 million from her business activities.
The official drives a luxury car - a 2021 LEXUS NX 200, which, according to the declaration, costs UAH 1.208 million.
Gifts from mother
In the third month of the full-scale invasion, Khotenko received two apartments as a gift from her mother, a Russian citizen. The cost of the housing is clearly understated. The declared value of the apartment in Rivne is 50 thousand UAH.
A similar apartment - a few minutes from the waterfront, in the heart of the city, measuring almost 38 square metres - was on the market for at least UAH 672,000 ($23,000 at the time). This is more than 13 times the declared amount.
A few days after the apartment in Rivne was registered, the tax officer-servant received another one as a gift - a 46-square-meter apartment in Kyiv. Again, the estimated value is ridiculous - 100 thousand UAH, while the market value was at least 870 thousand UAH.
For Khotenko, one declared square metre in the capital cost about $70.
"According to real estate experts, even taking into account the conditions in which the market in Kyiv found itself after the end of the fighting for the capital, the value of the gift indicated by the declarant does not correspond to its real price," the investigation says.
The husband's undeclared assets
The investigation states that in 2016, Khotenko failed to declare her husband's property - part of a house in Rivne region.
"Being then the deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Tax Service, Khotenko did not accidentally 'forget' about the house with a total area of 550 square metres. Such inaccuracies are often made by officials to avoid being caught by law enforcement agencies regarding the origin of funds for such property," the investigation says.
It is unlikely that the tax officer did not know about her husband's house, as half of it belonged to her mother, a Russian citizen named Lyudmila Timofeenko. It was this half that the mother gave to her daughter last year.
"It is interesting that Khotenko declares ownership of an entire house, albeit one that is 50 square metres smaller. In fact, half of the house belongs to her ex-husband, Andrii Khotenko, with whom Olena divorced in 2019," the article says.
The investigators add that the value of the property is clearly understated - only UAH 30 thousand. The real market price of the house is at least UAH 10.8 million. After all, the cost per square metre of housing in Rivne region starts at USD 600 (about UAH 24 thousand).
