Kovalchuk Volodymyr Anatoliiovych

Suspicion of creating artificial defence evidence in the case of the AMCU head: a declared loan of USD 800,000

According to a NABU statement (3 March 2026), the head of SAPO served a council member of one of the city councils in Lviv Oblast a notice of suspicion under Article 384(2), Article 358(4) and Article 366-2(2) of the Criminal Code. According to investigators, during the investigation of a case of illicit enrichment of a senior official being heard by the HACC, the council member, as a witness, gave false testimony regarding a loan agreement that was supposed to justify the origin of the official's assets, entered a fictitious loan to a third party in his declaration for 2024, and filed a lawsuit in court to recover a non-existent debt. According to sources of “Schemes (RFE/RL)”, the notice of suspicion was served on Sokal City Council member Volodymyr Kovalchuk; his declaration for 2024 lists a loan of USD 800 thousand to Oleksandr Matiienko — the father-in-law of the head of the AMCU (Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine) Pavlo Kyrylenko. The episode amount is the size of the declared loan; the official statement does not give an amount. Kovalchuk considers the suspicion unfounded. There is no verdict.

Pre-trial investigation body:

National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine

Proceedings:

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Charges:

ч.2 ст.384 КК, ч.4 ст.358 КК, ч.2 ст.366-2 КК