NACB detectives caught hiding luxury apartments, helping mobilization evaders and taking millions abroad – investigation materials

Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NACB) Roman Niedov and Valentyn Shmitko were caught in a corruption scandal – they hid luxury real estate, took millions abroad and helped evaders escape mobilization. This is stated in the investigation of Informator.ua.

Thus, according to journalists, Roman Niedov – deputy head of the NACB unit – has purchased several luxury real estate objects in Kyiv for his family in recent years. However, these purchases were registered in the name of his wife's mother, and later – with a clear underestimation of the value – were given to the detective's wife.

"An apartment was purchased for Niedov's mother-in-law in the Sherwood elite residential complex in Kyiv near the NACB. Between 2018 and 2020, the area of ​​the apartment was "reduced" according to the documents. As a result of manipulations, the housing was revalued, reducing the cost of the apartment almost threefold: from USD 98,000 to about USD 37,000. At this price, the apartment was presented to Niedov's wife and it appeared in the detective's declaration for 2020. In fact, apartments in this house with repairs and such an area cost from USD 200,000 today," the investigation says.

Another apartment on Povitroflotskyi Avenue passed into the ownership of Niedov's wife under a similar scheme, the investigation says. In addition to housing, the family uses an elite car, declared at almost half the price.

Another NACB employee, Valentyn Shmitko, who heads one of the Bureau's divisions, has been declaring significant amounts of cash for several years, sometimes amounting to two-thirds of his annual income, in order to then take them abroad, the media writes.

"Shmitko simply declared large amounts of money as cash savings every year: in 2017 - UAH 425,000, in 2019 - UAH 521,000, in 2020 - UAH 619,000, in 2021 - UAH 625,000, in 2024 - UAH 670,000. These amounts sometimes amounted to 2/3 of his official income per year. And in 2024, he took out of the country UAH 4,350,725," the material says.

In parallel, as journalists found out, Shmitko's wife has been vacationing in resorts in Europe and the US since the start of the full-scale war, but receives state social assistance in Ukraine.

"This is not the geography of Ukrainian refugees - this is an expensive vacation that the husband pays for. At the same time, he is "saving" money. We think everyone understands what income this is done from," the material says.

In addition to hiding income, Valentyn Shmitko, according to the investigation, was involved in an attempt to avoid mobilization by his acquaintance, who was wanted.

"Shmitko's friend was stopped at night with a bunch of cash in his car. Of course, they checked his documents and it turned out that he was wanted. Shmitko arrived right at night to "make a decision", but he "made a decision" so that he and his evading friend were charged. The NACB leadership exempted Shmitko from the court, and his evading friend from mobilization," the authors of the investigation note.

The editorial board of the publication suggested that the National Agency on Corruption Prevention begin an investigation into the above-mentioned persons.

"The NACP has an unfinished business. It seems that no matter which NACB detective you check, you will find suspicious fraud: with money, cars, apartments, houses. All these cases will have to be investigated and given a legal assessment, as required by the law. Something suggests that when this happens, "simple" non-major detectives will move to the status of difficult defendants in corruption on a particularly large scale," the material says.

This is not the first journalistic investigation that raises the issue of dishonesty of NACB employees. The Bureau was created in 2015 as a key body in the fight against corruption in the highest echelons of power. However, recently the number of scandals surrounding its activities has only increased. Calls for the liquidation of the Bureau and the creation of a new effective anti-corruption institution are increasingly being heard in society.