Position: Head of the Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine of the State Production and Consumer Service of Chernihiv Oblast.
Sphere of corrupt activity: food sphere.
Region of corruption activity: Chernihiv region
Qualification: Kulbako's actions were qualified under part 3 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an illegal benefit by an official).
Status: detained, the issue of selecting a preventive measure for him is being resolved.
The plot of the case: on February 27, 2024, the SBU and the SBU detained the head of the Department of the State Production and Consumer Service of Chernihiv region for a bribe. Journalists found out that it is about Viktor Kulbaka.
According to law enforcement officials, the official allegedly set up a mechanism for systematically extorting money from businessmen.
For the money, he guaranteed obtaining the permits necessary for the sale of products, in particular, ensuring a satisfactory conclusion of the laboratory and issuing the corresponding certificate.
Law enforcement officers documented several episodes of receiving money. The head of the department was detained while receiving another tranche from a representative of a local enterprise.
According to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, he was detained while receiving the next amount of funds in the amount of 17 thousand hryvnias.
The man was informed of suspicion under Part 3 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an illegal benefit by an official).
Persons potentially involved in the corruption scheme: from open sources it is not known about the alleged accomplices.
Assets: in the declaration for 2022, the official indicated that together with his wife Alla, he owns 20,000 square meters of land in the Varvyn community, an apartment with an area of 60.2 square meters in Chernihiv, a residential building in Chernihiv with an area of 164.3 square meters, and a plot in 1000 square meters in Chernihiv. Alla Kulbako acquired the last two properties in 2022.
Viktor Kulbako also declared a 2021 Toyota RAV4 car worth over UAH 817,000 registered to his wife, despite the fact that the spouses' official annual income is much lower than even the declared value of the vehicle.
Viktor Kulbako also has no official large savings - in PrivatBank, the official keeps deposits in the amount of 101.6 thousand UAH, 5.7 thousand UAH and 500 dollars.
In the declaration for 2023, Kulbako indicated that he received UAH 167,468 in pension, UAH 320,857 in salary, UAH 18,285 in interest and UAH 6,660 in material assistance. Instead, his wife declared UAH 166,567 in wages, UAH 8,013 in income from renting out property, and UAH 72,480 in pension.
He also declared UAH 125,665 on bank cards.
Persons who should have reacted to corruption schemes: in the case of the Kulbako case, law enforcement officers reacted in time.
In particular, this story was dealt with by the SBU, the State Criminal Investigation Department and the Prosecutor General's Office.
Scandals: as journalists note, this is not the first time that Viktor Kulbakov has been accused of receiving a bribe.
The first delay dates back to July 9, 2015. Kulbako was suspected of seizing property using his official position and extorting money from subordinates. According to law enforcement agencies, Viktor Kulbako, head of the Main Directorate of Veterinary Medicine of the Chernihiv region, set up a scheme by which he collected funds from district administrations, where local specialists received bribes from entrepreneurs in exchange for "protecting" their interests.
During searches at the workplace and at home, law enforcement agencies managed to find almost 40,000 hryvnias in cash and fuel coupons (400 liters). The investigation considered that these funds and vouchers were "tributes" from subordinates. Later it became known that the monthly contribution from each district administration was 25 thousand hryvnias or 50 thousand hryvnias per quarter. At that time there were 22 branches in the region. Viktor Kulbako insisted that he asked district leaders to raise funds to help defenders of Ukraine in the ATO zone, but without specific amounts and on a voluntary basis. Despite the explanation of Viktor Kulbak and one of his subordinates, they were equally taken into custody.
However, Kulbakov and his subordinate managed to be released later, having paid a deposit of 250,000 hryvnias for the manager and 150,000 hryvnias for the subordinate. Later, Viktor Kulbako was treated in the cardiology department.
Then the case unfolded in such a way that in court the heads of the district administrations confirmed the voluntary nature of the donations for the needs of the ATO participants. So, in April 2016, the Desnyan court acquitted the accused officials.
However, the prosecutor's office appealed the verdict, and in August 2017 the Court of Appeal of the Chernihiv Region sentenced Viktor Kulbak to 6 years and his colleague to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property, except housing.
It is known that the defendants appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Cassation, which overturned the previous verdict and returned the case for retrial in March 2019. On the second attempt, in September 2019, the Chernihiv Court of Appeal agreed with the verdict of the Desnyan Court and acquitted the accused.
Sources:
Facebook - Office of the Security Council of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region
Viktor Kulbako once again found himself on the receiving end of a bribe