State Labor official in Odesa Dmytro Vasylyevskyi declared false information about cryptocurrency

State Labor official in Odesa Dmytro Vasylyevskyi declared false information about cryptocurrency

In the declaration of an official from the Southern Interregional Department of State Labor in Odesa, Dmytro Vasylyevskyi, inaccurate information was found regarding the acquisition of cryptocurrency, indicating an offense under part 1 of article 366-2 of the Criminal Code.

This became known as a result of the NAPC’s verification of the official’s declaration.

Before the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, Vasylyevskyi was an entrepreneur and owned several companies. He even ran for office in elections. With the onset of mobilization, the 36-year-old unexpectedly decided to become an official, who, as is known, have exemptions from service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In 2022, he immediately received the position of Deputy Head of the Occupational Safety Department of the Inspection Activity Directorate in the Odesa region.

The declaration, which he submitted with amendments to the NAPC, was decided to be fully checked. Besides minor violations, a problem was found with the declaration of cryptocurrency.

The agency established that in the "Intangible Assets" section, the official provided inaccurate data about the Bitcoin cryptocurrency in the amount of two coins, which belong to him since 2016, stating their value as 3.16 million hryvnias.

In his explanations, Vasylyevskyi stated that he acquired the cryptocurrency through an oral agreement at the Book Market in Odesa for 900 dollars. However, as of 2023, access to the identifier in the virtual assets circulation system - blockchain (public address) of the electronic wallet is absent due to the loss of electronic media.

But the NAPC did not take his explanation into account. In the decision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv in case No. 761/33869/21 (which has come into legal force), the letter from the Research and Development Center for Forensic Expertise on Intellectual Property Issues is considered, stating that the conditional claim of a person regarding the loss of the public key (public address) of cryptocurrency is not an obstacle to its recovery if this person is a real, not an imaginary owner (user) of the private cryptokey.

However, Vasylyevskyi did not provide any documents or information confirming the availability of such cryptocurrency at the end of the reporting period. This information was assessed by the NAPC as inaccurate. Thus, the agency’s conclusion indicates that the official’s declaration contains inaccurate data, subject to criminal prosecution.