Dmytro Lubinets - Commissioner for Corruption

The indictment against Verveyko in criminal proceedings No. 12018050510000417 was submitted to the Volnovakha District Court (in exile) as early as March 18, 2020. According to the case materials, the current head of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Ivan Dmytrovych Verveyko, at the time headed the Volnovakha branch of the Executive Directorate of the Social Insurance Fund in Donetsk Oblast. During his tenure, he engaged in fraudulent employment of "ghost employees" and misappropriation of their salaries.

It is hardly surprising that the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, appointed a known embezzler of public funds as the head of his Secretariat. Public records indicate that Verveyko, as a suspect, officially financed the election campaign of former Volnovakha City Council deputy Lubinets. In 2019, Lubinets was re-elected as an independent member of the Ukrainian Parliament (after previously serving from 2014 to 2019 as a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction). Following the election, Verveyko moved to Kyiv, became Lubinets' parliamentary assistant, and acquired the procedural status of a defendant. On July 1, 2022, after Lubinets was appointed Commissioner for Human Rights, the indicted Verveyko was made head of the Secretariat. As for the criminal case, Verveyko reportedly joked to his subordinates on multiple occasions that "it burned up in court."

The criminal expertise Verveyko gained at the Volnovakha branch of the Social Insurance Fund's Executive Directorate proved useful in his new position. As whispered among employees of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, most of Lubinets' subordinates (over 150 people) are required to return a fixed amount of their salaries to Verveyko every month—ranging from 5,000 UAH (the contribution for chief specialists) to 50,000 UAH (the "fee" for Lubinets' advisors). Additionally, "ghost employees" are also officially on the payroll in the Secretariat—a practice Verveyko often boasts about, citing the "burning" of his earlier case in the Volnovakha District Court.

Since late 2023, the collection of funds has extended beyond the Central Office to regional representative offices of the Commissioner for Human Rights. Subordinates claim that the funds are collected by Verveyko himself, who keeps the cash in a safe in his office. The "black fund" is reportedly used to cover vacations and other personal expenses of the Commissioner. Simple calculations suggest that since December 2023, Lubinets has amassed an estimated 20 million UAH solely from the forced salary contributions of Secretariat employees.

The lists of employees required to hand over money to the head of the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights include a "responsible" column specifying who collects the "proceeds":

Lubinets' subordinates also claim that the Commissioner pockets everything within reach of his grasping hands. For instance, in 2023, the IT department of the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights developed a Telegram chatbot. The specific employees who worked on it were paid salaries, the stages of the work and deadlines were repeatedly documented in meeting minutes, and the chatbot was successfully completed. Yet, after its development, the Secretariat signed a contract with Nice-IT LLC for the "development" of the very same chatbot, transferring 990,000 UAH to the company.

However, appetite comes with eating, and by the end of 2023, the Secretariat signed another contract with the same Nice-IT LLC for the creation, setup, and implementation of a CRM system for 2,050,000 UAH. As reference materials explain, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is designed to help organizations convert leads into actual customers, retain existing clients, and manage all stages of interaction. The primary goals of CRM platforms are to enhance customer relationships, increase loyalty, and improve the chances of closing deals and growing profits. When it comes to Commissioner Lubinets' personal profit growth, this CRM system seems to have worked wonders.

The first visible result of the CRM system can be seen by anyone visiting the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights. It is a cafeteria located in the semi-basement. This cafeteria is run by individual entrepreneur Oleksandr Serhiyovych Yakymenko. Yakymenko happens to be the godfather of the Secretariat's head, Verveyko. Yakymenko has no official lease agreement for the premises, meaning he does not pay rent to the Secretariat's account but instead directly to the pocket of the person who granted him access. Without a CRM system, it’s unlikely that Lubinets and Verveyko would have come up with such a scheme.

Should the Commissioner overlook any loose change floating by, he has advisors to assist him. One such advisor is Roman Volodymyrovych Leshchenko. Both the Commissioner and his advisor live in the same house at 63rd Sadova Street in Kyiv. However, readers should not jump to conclusions—Leshchenko is the husband of the sister of Lubinets' wife, Yanina Viktorivna. Thus, the Commissioner and his advisor effectively live as one family and even commute to and from work in the same government car. It’s obvious that the Commissioner cannot use his own car or, heaven forbid, public transport—how could he possibly protect human rights under such conditions? Conveniently, Lubinets sold his personal car to Leshchenko on New Year’s Eve of 2024, although he continues to use it. Formally, Lubinets has no personal car listed in his declarations, so he must transport his advisor at the expense of grateful Ukrainian taxpayers, whose rights he zealously defends.

Lubinets also ensures that his brother-in-law receives monthly bonuses, allowances, and financial assistance—how could it be otherwise? Furthermore, the Commissioner has appointed his cousin, Myroslava Yuriyivna Kakaulina, as Chief Specialist of the Occupational Safety and Health Sector (because protecting human rights is so dangerous that an entire sector of safety experts is necessary). She, too, receives monthly bonuses, allowances, and financial assistance. Some might see a conflict of interest here and expect the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) to draft an administrative protocol against Lubinets for corruption. However, the new head of the NACP, Viktor Pavlushchyk, sees no such conflict. After all, when it was revealed that the previous NACP head Oleksandr Novikov and former deputy head Artem Sytnyk helped their drinking buddy, soldier Vitaliy Shabunin, avoid military service in the 207th Separate Territorial Defense Battalion (by repeatedly sending letters to the battalion commander requesting Shabunin’s reassignment to the NACP and issuing him travel permits stating he was supposedly serving in the NACP), Pavlushchyk found no conflict of interest. Thus, Lubinets and Verveyko feel divinely and officially sanctioned to hire their relatives and pay them bonuses and allowances.

It’s no surprise, then, that with methodological guidance from the NACP, Lubinets and Verveyko extend their reach not only into state coffers but also into various charitable funds. For example, in October 2023, eight children were returned to Ukraine from the Russian Federation with Qatar’s assistance, which covered all expenses, including transport, accommodation, food, and essential personal items. Nevertheless, Lubinets personally approached the NGO Orphans Feeding Foundation to request reimbursement for the "costs" of the operation. The organization transferred the requested funds, only to later discover that all expenses had already been covered by the Qatari government. When the foundation's director, Mariam Lambert, sought explanations and requested a report on the funds' usage, Lubinets refused to provide one and announced the termination of cooperation with the organization. Eventually, the foundation had to appeal to the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee to expose the rampant corruption in Ukraine.

The European Parliament might be astonished to learn that Lubinets and Verveyko, emboldened by their impunity, not only systematically divert charitable financial aid but also orchestrate schemes involving vehicles donated by international partners. During every meeting with charitable organizations and international partners, Lubinets emphasizes the need for material support for the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights—both in cash and vehicles. However, these donations are not received by the Secretariat but rather by a specially created NGO called "Volunteers United by a Single Goal" (EDRPOU code 45047206), established on April 24, 2023, and headed by Verveyko's godfather, Oleksandr Serhiyovych Yakymenko, who also runs the cafeteria. This allows all charitable donations intended for human rights protection in Ukraine to end up in a pseudo-NGO controlled by Lubinets and Verveyko. The NGO currently owns 11 vehicles, some funded by the BGV Charitable Foundation, others by Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative, and several more by Orphans Feeding Foundation. Naturally, when the Commissioner and Secretariat head are replaced, all the vehicles will remain the property of the NGO and will likely be sold.

In addition, some vehicles received by the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights are registered directly under Oleksandr Yakymenko's name—ensuring that no one can ever take them away from the Commissioner.

And here’s the cherry on top. The public database on the NACP website lacks a declaration from Ivan Dmytrovych Verveyko, the head of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that the indicted Verveyko, in addition to his work at the Secretariat, is also "serving" in the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR MO), like Masih Nayyem's law firm head, Ukroboronprom funds embezzler Andriy Kaluzhynskyi, GUR Colonel Yevhen Chervonenko, or Ukraine’s most infamous fraudster, Kostya Hryshyn (a.k.a. Grishyn, Gryshyn, or Semen Semenchenko), who is currently on trial in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv. However, given the legal consciousness of the current and former heads of the NACP, it seems there’s little benefit to be expected from this agency or from the income and expenditure declarations of officials.