Ruslan Bilovar from the OPG: money just sticks to the prosecutor

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The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine demands professional renewal and cleansing from old personnel. It would seem that this task should be a priority for the heads of this body and newly created bodies like the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors. However, prosecutors with rather questionable reputations are being promoted within the OPG to positions related to anti-corruption.

Meet Ruslan Bilovar, the prosecutor of the anti-corruption unit of the Department for Supporting Prosecution and Representation of State Interests in Courts of the OPG.

Ruslan Bilovar’s official biography is not publicly available. However, we can learn about his previous workplaces from the media. For example, there is a publication from 2005 where Ruslan is mentioned as the Berehove (Zakarpattia region) district prosecutor. It is also known that in 2010 he was the first deputy prosecutor of the Zakarpattia region. This is confirmed by the relevant official declaration. In 2011, Ruslan was even mentioned as the acting prosecutor of Zakarpattia.

The next known workplace of Ruslan Bilovar was the prosecutor’s office in Mukachevo, which he headed from 2011 to 2013.

Since then, Ruslan Bilovar continued his prosecutorial career. Immediately after being relieved from his position as the head of the Mukachevo prosecutor’s office, Bilovar worked as a senior investigator in the investigation unit of the Zakarpattia regional prosecutor’s office. On September 4, 2013, he became the acting prosecutor of the city of Uzhhorod and later took the position of deputy prosecutor of Uzhhorod.

Right after the Revolution of Dignity, Ruslan Bilovar was appointed responsible for internal security in the regional prosecutor’s office. Officially, this position is called: prosecutor of the prevention of offenses in regional prosecutor’s offices of the Internal Security and Protection of Prosecutor’s Staff Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (with a location in the Zakarpattia regional prosecutor’s office).

From July 25, 2017, Ruslan has been reappointed five times to positions, most of which relate to anti-corruption. Today, Ruslan Bilovar holds the position of prosecutor of the anti-corruption activities unit of the Department for Supporting Prosecution and Representation of State Interests in Courts.

Such success of Ruslan Bilovar in the local media is associated with his acquaintance with the former head of the Zakarpattia Regional Council, Ivan Baloha. By the way, the prosecutor’s father, Yosyp  Bilovar, was an assistant to Viktor Baloha - brother of Ivan Baloha.

The media also published information and a video which "shows how the former prosecutor of Mukachevo and the main anti-corruption fighter of the Zakarpattia regional prosecutor’s office Ruslan Bilovar unloads several boxes from a Volkswagen Touareg and transfers them to another car." "Thus, the Zakarpattian ’donor’ was packing the car of the deputy head of the Internal Security and Protection of Prosecutor’s Staff Department - the head of the service investigations and anti-corruption unit of the OPG, Ihor Bondarenko." Unfortunately, this video has not been preserved, so it is difficult to confirm or refute this information, except for the confirmed fact that the prosecutor’s mother owns a Volkswagen Touareg.

Another interesting fact is the burning of Ruslan Bilovar’s car. This happened in 2012. According to the prosecutor’s press service, the car was a 2012 Mercedes ML-350, owned by the prosecutor’s mother.

The prosecutor’s wife, Iryna Bilovar, is registered as a notary at the address: Mukachevo, I. Margitych Street, 12, apt. 1.

The prosecutor’s mother, Lyudmyla Bilovar, is also involved in legal activities and has been an advocate since 2000. The above-mentioned father of Ruslan Bilovar was probably an advocate as well. Furthermore, in 2011, Viktor Yanukovych awarded Yosyp Bilovar the title "Honored Lawyer of Ukraine."

The prosecutor’s son, 17-year-old Kristian Ruslanovych Bilovar, is a player of the youth team of the "Dynamo" football club.

It’s also worth mentioning the prosecutor’s brother – Bohdan Bilovar. Bohdan used to be a prosecutor as well, but he was dismissed for participating in bribery. Later, Bohdan contested the dismissal decision and won the appeal and cassation courts. However, it seems that after that he did not continue to work in the prosecutor’s office and engaged in legal practice.

The prosecutor’s declarations for 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017 turned out to be equally interesting. Ruslan Bilovar’s salary for this period amounted to 1.1 million UAH. However, a significant part of Ruslan Bilovar’s income comes not from work in the prosecutor’s office, but from the sale of property, inheritance, gifts, and renting out property. In total, Ruslan Bilovar additionally declared almost 4.5 million UAH.

However, there are a few points here. A significant part of this amount was received by Ruslan Bilovar from the sale of cars (1.7 million UAH), a gift from his mother (1 million UAH), and inheritance (370 thousand UAH). But among the 4.5 million UAH, there are other incomes, for example, renting out property. Between 2015 and 2017, Ruslan Bilovar rented an office to his wife and received a total of 164 thousand UAH. He also received 578 thousand UAH from renting property to the company "Karpaty LTD," 100% owned by his mother.

The prosecutor’s wife declared 1.2 million UAH in salary and an additional 900 thousand UAH from the sale of movable property in the same period.

In 2017, Ruslan Bilovar inherited a land plot. It is located in the territory of the Verkhnyokoropetska village council in the Zakarpattia region. Interestingly, there is a house on this plot, but the owner is unknown.

Another land plot is located in Mukachevo, on S. Kloсhurak Street. The prosecutor became the owner of this land in 2013, but it is not listed in the declaration for that year. Besides this plot, Ruslan Bilovar declared two more plots in Mukachevo. One of the plots, with an area of 615 sq. m., is also absent in the 2013 declaration, although Ruslan became its owner in 2011.

Ruslan Bilovar also inherited two apartments in Mukachevo. Their total area is 133 sq. m., and they are located at the address: I. Margitych Street, 12. At the same address, there is also a non-residential premise, of which the prosecutor is also the owner. This is the building where the office of Ruslan’s wife and his mother’s law firm are located.

Another commercial office space, with an area of 154 sq. m., is located at the address: I. Margitych Street, 16. Ruslan Bilovar is also the owner of this space.

On July 18, 2018, the prosecutor’s wife, Iryna Bilovar, became the owner of a land plot and a house with an area of 257 sq. m., located at: Mukachevo, V. Zhupan Street, 3. Obviously, we will see this real estate in the prosecutor’s declaration next year.

But another house of Iryna is listed in the declaration. She became the owner of this 244 sq. m. property in 2007, which costs 221 thousand UAH.

Iryna also owns three other plots of land. One of them is located in the village of Verkhnia Voznytsia on the banks of the Voznytsia river. New residential houses are already being built near Iryna’s plot.

The Bilovar family also has a fair amount of valuable movable property. For example, Ruslan Bilovar is the owner of a collection of paintings by Zakarpattian artists and Rolex watches. Meanwhile, Iryna owns fur outerwear and two jewelry items made of precious stones and metal.

Iryna also owns a luxury car, a 2015 Mercedes GLE350. The declared value of this car is 1.7 million UAH.

Apart from the high declared income of the prosecutor, his savings are impressive. Ruslan Bilovar declared 2.5 million UAH, 170 thousand USD, and 73 thousand EUR in cash. His wife also declared 520 thousand UAH and 14 thousand USD in cash.

In the Register of Rights to Real Estate, we also learned about the property of the prosecutor’s mother, Lyudmyla Bilovar. It turned out that she owns an apartment in Uzhhorod, with an area of 129 square meters, located at 1v Franko Street, as well as six plots of land. We were particularly interested in one of them. It is a plot of land in the village of Dyida, located near Lake Didovo. And it is precisely on the shore of this lake that Lyudmyla rents a plot from Ivan Ilt. She rents it together with Oleksandr Yatskanych, a lustrated former head of the Berehove District Department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in the Zakarpattia region. On this plot, there is a small house with access to the lake, but who owns it is unknown due to the lack of information in the Register of Rights to Real Estate.

Besides, Lyudmyla owns luxury cars: VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG 7L 2013 and MERCEDES-BENZ S 65 2010 year of manufacture.

 

Lyudmyla Bilovar is now engaged in business. She is currently the owner of 10% of the companies LLC "ZAKARPATKURORTMINVODY" and MPP "ALEX," as well as the sole owner of the companies LLC "KARPATY LTD" and LLC "Bilovar and K LTD." Incidentally, Pavlo Baloha once worked in the latter law firm. We also found another interesting fact: Lyudmyla Bilovar is a veteran of the Zakarpattia prosecutor’s office. Therefore, Lyudmyla started such extensive business activities relatively recently, having inherited them from her late husband.

As we can see, instead of renewing the prosecutor’s office, the leaders of this body continue to rely on law enforcers who successfully worked during Yanukovych’s era. And there are quite a few questions about their integrity.

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