Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine head Pavlo Kyrylenko said he knew nothing about former Vice Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna lobbying for his appointment as National Anti-Corruption Bureau director. Kyrylenko made the statement following an August 6 hearing at the High Anti-Corruption Court in Kyiv, where he faces charges of illicit enrichment and false asset declaration exceeding 70 million hryvnias.
The allegation emerged during an August 5 court session in a similar illicit enrichment and false declaration case against Stefanishyna, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States. A prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office quoted text messages dated December 30, 2022, between Stefanishyna and Mykola Kucheryavenko, head of the selection committee for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau director. The messages indicated that Stefanishyna lobbied for Kyrylenko, who was serving as head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration at the time, to lead the anti-corruption agency.
Stefanishyna declined to comment on her alleged influence over the appointment. She said she believed the prosecutor achieved the public goals of the hearing by introducing context unrelated to her case.
At the August 6 hearing in Kyrylenko's case, the court moved to question witnesses. Testifying before the court were a real estate seller who sold property later acquired by Kyrylenko's family and a notary who certified the purchase agreements.
Dispute over legal defense
Presiding Judge Natalya Movchan read a motion from Kyrylenko's defense attorney Volodymyr Lysenko requesting to postpone witness questioning because he was on vacation. Kyrylenko supported the request, telling the court he could not find another attorney willing to represent him and could not forcibly bring his lawyer to court.
Judge Tetyana Lytvynko asked Kyrylenko if he had written statements from law firms or specific attorneys refusing to take his case. Kyrylenko replied that he had no obligation to submit written requests to them.
The judicial panel rejected the motion to delay proceedings. Judge Lytvynko explained that the defense would be granted the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses later when Kyrylenko's attorney appears, and that the witnesses would be recalled.
Judge Movchan pointed out that the defense had been notified on June 23 of the hearing dates scheduled for August. She noted that no hearings took place in July, but the attorney planned his vacation during August. Movchan added that many participants join court proceedings remotely via video conference from different countries and continents, yet the attorney did not find an hour to connect online alongside his client.
Kyrylenko responded that his right to defense was grossly violated by the ruling. The court scheduled the next hearing for August 7.
Allegations of fabricated evidence
In March 2026, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office notified Volodymyr Kovalchuk, a member of the Sokal City Council in Lviv region, of suspicion regarding false testimony and inaccurate asset declaration. Investigators contend that Kovalchuk created artificial defense evidence to assist Kyrylenko.
During a court hearing in the summer of 2024, Kyrylenko's father-in-law Oleksandr Matiyenko testified that he purchased real estate in Kyiv's Obolon Plaza residential complex using an 800,000 dollar loan from Kovalchuk. However, forensic examination established that the loan agreement, which was dated July 2021, was actually signed between April and July 2024 and had been subjected to artificial aging techniques.
The criminal investigation against Kyrylenko involves illicit enrichment and false declaration totaling 72 million hryvnias. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau opened the case following a report by Schemes, an investigative project of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, and transferred the case to court in July 2025.
Unexplained family wealth
On June 5, 2025, investigators notified Kyrylenko of a new suspicion concerning non-declaration of assets. His wife Alla Kyrylenko was also notified of suspicion for aiding in illicit enrichment. Prosecutors allege that Kyrylenko omitted 20 real estate properties and a luxury vehicle registered to his wife's relatives from his 2024 electronic declaration.
These properties match those involved in the original charges concerning his declarations from 2020 to 2023. A March 2024 Schemes investigation revealed that Kyrylenko's family acquired cars and real estate in Kyiv, Kyiv region, and Uzhhorod between 2020 and 2023 with a market value exceeding 70 million hryvnias, despite lacking sufficient official income.
Kyrylenko told Schemes that the family's wealth originated from initial capital accumulated in the 1990s when his wife's grandmother sold shares in the Styrol plant in Horlivka. Journalists were unable to find official records confirming those transactions.
Following the investigative report, Kyrylenko listed a 200-square-meter Kyiv apartment valued at 6.2 million hryvnias, registered to his wife's 77-year-old grandmother, in his 2023 declaration. However, he failed to declare a BMW automobile owned by his mother-in-law and used by his wife.
Prosecutors transferred the case against Kyrylenko to court on July 7, 2025. In August 2025, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office requested to suspend Kyrylenko from his duties as Anti-Monopoly Committee head after he acknowledged in court that he could use his position to influence case participants through their relatives. The High Anti-Corruption Court denied the suspension request.
