Million-dollar misuse and family fortunes of police leadership: Bihus.Info investigation reveals the truth
Recent investigations by journalists at Bihus.Info shed new light on the financial status of the leaders of the Service Center of the National Police of Ukraine (COSP NPU).
It has been revealed that over the past few years, the families of high-ranking officials significantly improved their material well-being, acquiring new cars and real estate that were not declared before.
These events coincided with government procurement of body cameras, the cost of which was artificially inflated by tens of millions of hryvnias, according to estimates.
Journalists uncovered a scheme where police purchased the same camera models through intermediaries, significantly raising the price and facilitating corruption schemes.
For example, in 2021, the cost per unit was around $450, rising to over $630 by 2023.
After a new supplier appeared, the price surged dramatically.
The Ukrainian company TOV “TES.LA” became the new contractor, claiming to upgrade the equipment, but sources report that the company resold identical camera models through shell firms, inflating prices and reducing competition.
As a result, contracts worth 150 million UAH in 2023 could have involved a markup of about 30 million UAH.
A similar pattern repeated in 2024 with a contract of 175 million UAH, where the profit margin for “TES.LA” might have exceeded 30 million UAH.
The company also secured two further major contracts totaling over 250 million UAH, details of which are still unavailable.
Meanwhile, high-ranking officials from the center are found to possess undeclared properties and expensive vehicles.
The head of the center, Pavlo Panfyorov, owns real estate in Vyshhorod district and uses vehicles such as Range Rover and Toyota Land Cruiser Prado with license plates tied to shell companies.
The investigation also highlights other officials, including Deputy Serhiy Filenko, who owns a large house and a car not declared in his official holdings, and Євген Чернякович, who manages procurement and owns properties and vehicles that are undeclared.
The investigation underscores how corruption schemes in procurement and property are intertwined with the high-rise careers of Ukrainian police officials.