In Odesa, a regional council deputy reported 2.8 million hryvnias of illegal assets

In Odesa, a regional council deputy reported 2.8 million hryvnias of illegal assets

Unexplained assets amounting to 2.9 million hryvnias have been discovered in the declaration of Serhiy Bib, a deputy of the Odesa Regional Council. This amount reflects the value of purchases made by the deputy’s daughter over the past years. The daughter did not have the necessary savings to purchase a new car and two apartments in Odesa.

This became known to the media following a check of the official’s declaration for the year 2022.

The discovered funds are the difference between the expenditures of the deputy’s family and his legitimate income. The agency also concluded that Serhiy Bib provided inaccurate information in the declaration amounting to 1 million 806 thousand hryvnias.

The most discrepancies relate to a loan the deputy provided to local farmer Yuriy Lyubas, amounting to 60.5 million hryvnias. Deputy Serhiy Bib explained that he borrowed these funds from the farming enterprise "Vesta-YUG." However, according to the IOU, the farming enterprise lent the deputy only 26 million hryvnias. After calculating income and expenses, the NACP discovered that the amount loaned to Lyubas and the deputy’s savings differ by 1.7 million hryvnias.

Serhiy Bib did not mention his likely common-law wife Lyudmyla Shchedrova in the declaration, with whom he has an adult daughter. However, the deputy indicated his place of residence as a house owned by this woman, who also pays the utility bills for that address.

Shchedrova went to court over the husband’s borrowed funds, demanding to terminate the loan agreement between Serhiy Bib and Yuriy Lyubas. In court, she explained that she has been in a de facto marital relationship with the deputy since 1995 and that the loaned 2 million dollars were their joint property, so the agreement should have been concluded with her consent.

Regarding the unexplained assets, the deputy’s daughter Olena Bib has acquired property worth 2.9 million hryvnias over the past few years. In 2021, she purchased a new VW Touareg for 2.036 million hryvnias. In 2020, she became the owner of an apartment measuring 47 square meters, listed at a price of 235 thousand hryvnias. In 2021, she also purchased an apartment in Odesa measuring 50.8 square meters for 619 thousand hryvnias.

Meanwhile, the official earnings of the daughter from 1999 to 2022 amount to 112 thousand hryvnias, with her spending money on foreign trips in 2022. Serhiy Bib stated that he does not know where his daughter got the money for the car and real estate, although he regularly transferred funds to her. The official income of the deputy also does not permit such purchases.