Family of top customs official Komar built mansion worth 70 million hryvnia during war - media
The family of Anatolii Komar, head of the Energy Customs of the State Customs Service, built a mansion in an elite suburb of Kyiv worth UAH 70 million and covering almost half a thousand square metres on the shores of a lake after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. It was registered in the name of the customs officer's 69-year-old father-in-law.
This is stated in an investigation by Schemes journalists, Censor.NET reports.
In February 2025, Komar's father-in-law Serhii Hladkov registered ownership of an estate in the village of Vyshenky in the Kyiv region with a total area of 450 square metres. He also owns another property in the capital, where Anatoliy Komar himself currently lives.
The construction lasted two years, and the general contractor reported on its progress on social media. Journalists contacted the company as private clients and received a detailed cost estimate.
"The first two stages of construction alone cost over UAH 48 million. According to the developer's estimates, another UAH 10 million is spent on finishing works. About the same amount can be spent on furniture and appliances, according to architectural experts interviewed by Skhemy who have seen the construction project," the authors of the article noted.
Thus, such a turnkey estate will cost at least UAH 70 million.
The journalists found out that Gladkov, the father-in-law of the head of the Energy Customs, did not have enough official income to afford such a construction. In the 2000s, he ran a state-owned metalworking plant in Chernivtsi, with a salary of several thousand hryvnias a month. It was only in 2019 that he registered as an individual entrepreneur.
Sources in the tax authorities told the authors that between 1998 and 2025, Serhii Hladkov earned 16.5 million hryvnias. Another UAH 7.5 million was officially earned by his wife, the mother-in-law of a high-ranking customs officer, who also became a sole trader only at retirement age.
The journalists noted that on the day of the land purchase agreement in Vyshenky, the wife of VS Energy Group President Mykola Lavrenko bought the plot right next door, across the fence. Both transactions were notarised by the same notary, 15 minutes apart.
Lavrenko is an old acquaintance of Anatoliy Komar's from the time when he worked as an advisor at VS Energy in between his work at the SBU and customs. The fact that they are still friends is evidenced by their joint attendance at football matches of the Left Bank team, of which Lavrenko is president.
Komar's reaction
Komar told reporters that he had nothing to do with the estate and that his father-in-law had enough money to build it. The official's father-in-law and mother-in-law told Skhemy that they had built the house with "their own money", but refused to explain the significant discrepancy between their official income and construction costs.
Anatoliy Komar's daughter
"The Schemes also found out that Anatoliy Komar's minor daughter is studying at a prestigious college in London, King's College London, as follows from her profile description on social media, where she also posts photos from the British capital. The cost of a year of study at this college for international students is about 26 thousand pounds per year (1.5 million hryvnias).
Prior to that, according to her social media, she studied at Pascal English School Lefkosia in Cyprus, where tuition and accommodation cost 30 thousand euros per year (at that time, 1.2 million hryvnias).
At the same time, Anatoliy Komar's declarations do not contain any information about his daughter's residence abroad and the costs of her education.
Komar stated that his daughter's education expenses were covered by her godfather, but refused to disclose his name, only saying that he was a businessman. These expenses are not reflected in Komar's declaration, despite the fact that anti-corruption legislation requires that third-party expenses in the form of a gift for the education of a family member of the declarant be disclosed.
Also, according to investigators, Komar uses a 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 400. It belongs to the company Primorskaya Energogeneratsionnaya Kompaniya, and the car is rented from the company by Maria Komar, the customs officer's wife. The company's tax reports indicate that its monthly income from car rental is UAH 15,000. At the same time, the market value of renting a car like the one used by the customs officer is $6,000 per month.
Komar said in a commentary that he knew how much his wife rents a car for, but refused to name it. According to him, the price is market-based.
The Primorskaya Energogeneratsionnaya Kompaniya LLC stated that the cars are expensive, so they do not rent them to "just anyone." Director Roman Vorobel promised to check with lawyers about the price, but did not respond to any further attempts to contact him.
Anatoliy Komar refused to comment to journalists in writing.
"The issues raised in your appeal do not relate to the professional activities or official powers of the head of the customs office and remain without comment," he said in his response.
