460 hectares of land purchased with stolen budget funds are being returned to Lovochkin family, - Nikolaienko
460 hectares of land in the Borzhava mountain pasture (Zakarpattia region), which was seized as part of a criminal investigation by the NABU into embezzlement in 2010-2014, was sold at auction by the ARMA at minimum prices to companies linked to the family of Serhii Lovochkin.
This is stated in an article by journalist Tetiana Nikolaienko, as reported by Censor.NET.
What is known?
It all began in 2004 with the creation of the "Borzhava Polonyna" recreation centre. At that time, the land was transferred to investment companies closely associated with Vladyslav Kaskiv, then head of the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine.
The author notes that Kaskiv could not have been appointed there without the assistance of Serhii Lovochkin. In the autumn of 2011, Azarov's Cabinet allocated more than half a billion hryvnias to national projects. However, none of the investment projects were implemented before the change of power in 2014.
Instead of attracting investors for the implementation of the "Quality Water" and "Olympic Hope-2022" projects, those in power built their own network through which they siphoned budget funds to their companies.
"On 1 August 2018, NABU reported the completion of an investigation into eight individuals involved in the embezzlement of budget funds from "Derzhinvestproekt" on the "Olympic Hope" 2022 and "Quality Water" projects.
Among others, Vladyslav Kaskiv's long-time friend and his two brothers were suspected. But not the head of the State Agency himself," Nikolaienko writes.
Zelenskyy's presidency
At the same time, the author notes that under Zelenskyy, Kaskiv and his company from Borzhava were not driven out either.
Since July 2020, President Zelenskyy's Office, headed by Andrii Yermak, has begun discussing the creation of the "Borzhava" high-altitude all-season sports and tourism cluster again.
The programme was presented by Austrian Gernot Leitner.
Later, OCCRP journalists gained access to Kaskiv's correspondence, as well as that of personal assistants and confidants of OPFL MPs Serhii and Yulia Lovochkins for 2014-2016. They testified that Lovochkin was involved in managing the accounts of the Austrian company Teleferic Holdings GMBH, which was registered to Austrian citizen Gernot Leitner.
In January 2026, according to the article, Lovochkin officially "entered the game."
On 8 January 2026, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) sold 460 hectares of land in the Borzhava mountain pasture (Zakarpattia region) for 89.5 million hryvnias.
"In other words, the land seized in the Kaskiv's case, bought with money stolen from the state, returned to the same people. The only difference is that Lovochkin is no longer a shadow there, but a full-fledged family member. He is now even the bona fide owner of what was once stolen from the state and paid for with state money.
And the current Ukrainian government allowed this deal," she concluded.
