State Eco-Inspectorate Official Oleksandr Subbotin Found $653 Thousand in Grandmother's Garage

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention, during a full verification of the 2024 declaration, found that the official did not confirm the legality of cash funds amounting to over 26.1 million UAH.

This concerns Oleksandr Serhiyovych Subbotin, head of the sector for coordination and control of territorial bodies of the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine. In his declaration, he indicated cash assets amounting to 623 thousand USD, which according to the NBU exchange rate at the end of 2024 amounted to 26,190,297 UAH.

According to the official’s explanations, part of these funds allegedly came from his grandmother’s savings and were found by him in the garage after inheriting this real estate object in 2021. The total amount of found funds, according to him, was 653 thousand USD.

At the same time, the NACP noted that such explanations are not supported by documents. The agency established that the official’s grandmother’s and grandfather’s official incomes do not indicate the possibility of accumulating such an amount. Also, no documents were provided to confirm the origin of the funds or the fact of their discovery in the garage.

Moreover, the NACP took into account that until 1991, there were restrictions on foreign currency circulation in the USSR.

The NACP established the following:

Employment records show that the official’s grandmother worked from 1948 to 1984 in positions inconsistent with the real financial ability to have incomes sufficient to save money that could later be saved and converted into foreign currency (considering living expenses and other economic factors).

During the full verification, the declarant reported that his grandfather (died 19.12.1989) traveled with his grandmother on business across the former USSR, where they had business relations since 1984 when his grandmother retired and engaged in her own affairs. However, the declarant did not inform the National Agency about his grandfather’s employment during his life, so this information is absent from the National Agency. At the same time, the declarant did not provide documents confirming any other paid activities in the former USSR territories (by grandmother and grandfather) that would have allowed them to earn money sufficient for savings later converted into dollar equivalent.

Furthermore, during the periods mentioned by the declarant, any manifestations of "entrepreneurial activity" (business relations) were strictly limited in the USSR, punishable by criminal liability.

Thus, the National Agency believes that the declarant’s grandmother and grandfather had no real opportunity to conduct any currency operations during their employment because until 1991, foreign currency circulation among USSR citizens was prohibited.

According to Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (1961), violations of currency operation rules and speculation with currency values were criminally punishable. This norm completely restricted the circulation of foreign cash currency among USSR citizens — exchange, purchase, or storage of US dollars were criminal offenses. Therefore, until August 24, 1991, any legal acquisition or exchange of currency funds was impossible.

After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, the only currency was the Ukrainian karbovanets, and the currency market was just beginning to form. Exchange of karbovanets (which were devalued monthly) for US dollars was extremely limited and economically unattainable (the hryvnia appeared only in 1996).

Considering the above and the fact that the grandfather died in 1989, the NACP concluded that the grandmother could have legally conducted currency operations only after Ukraine’s independence, so accumulating such a significant amount in US dollars during the 1940s–80s lacks legal grounds.

Additionally, the full verification materials contain a copy of a will dated 03.03.1992, signed by the declarant’s grandmother and certified by state notary I.O. Baldakova (registered under No. 1-1802), which lacks any information about cash funds the grandmother had at the time of the will’s drafting.

Meanwhile, in a lawsuit to the Ivano-Frankivsk District Administrative Court, the official claimed to have original documents confirming the money belonged to his late grandmother. However, he did not provide them to the agency, explaining that before the full-scale invasion, he handed the folder to an acquaintance now in the USA, and the documents themselves remained in a destroyed house in Kharkiv or were lost during evacuation.

After evaluating all comments, the NACP concluded that these explanations were unconfirmed. The pre-trial investigation is conducted by the State Bureau of Investigations.

Establishing signs of false declaration does not automatically mean the person is guilty — the final decision is made based on the investigation and court proceedings.

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