According to a statement published via Telegram, Vityuk purchased an apartment valued at UAH21.6 million ($522,000) in December 2023 and registered it to his wife, although the sale contract listed its price as UAH12.8 million ($310,000). To explain the discrepancy, his wife claimed she earned the funds by providing legal and consulting services since February 2022. Prosecutors say bank records show those payments came not from legitimate clients but from a person suspected of embezzling funds from state railway operator Ukrainian Railways (UZ) and other companies. They say those companies are fictitious and that there is no proof of provenance of the remaining UAH8.8 million ($213,000).
The SBU responded, calling the charges “revenge” for SBU’s involvement in the July attempt to strip SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) of their independence from the government. The service also claimed prosecutors ignored multiple expert reports that found no evidence of underpriced real estate transactions, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption’s conclusion that Vityuk’s family showed no signs of illicit enrichment, documentation of his wife’s business activities, and testimony from numerous witnesses.
At the same time, sources told NV that NABU and SAPO were preparing to charge Vityuk by the time their offices were raided by the SBU in July.
The story about the real estate transaction in question broke on April 4. Shortly after the report by journalists from Slidstvo.Info, SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk suspended Vityuk from heading the agency’s cybersecurity department and reassigned him to a combat duty.