Babak Alyona Valeriivna
Official biography
Politician, Member of Parliament of Ukraine. In 2019, at the first meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of the ninth convocation, she was appointed Minister of Community Development.
Education.
She received her secondary education in her hometown. Then she moved to the capital and entered the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages. Alyona Babak is a teacher of English and French.
In 1996, she won a grant to study in the United States with the support of the Edmund E. Muskie Foundation and in 1998 received a master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Finance from Old Dominion University (Virginia, USA, ranked in the top 200 universities in the world).
Babak is the author of more than 30 scientific papers. He is fluent in several languages — Ukrainian, Russian, English and French.
Career and business
Babak started her career as a student and was promoted to office manager in 1993. In three years, she was able to grow to become an analyst and coordinator of housing and communal services restructuring assistance projects.
Immediately after graduating from an American university and returning home, she quit her job and started her own business. Over the course of her career, Babak has managed various international projects, held the position of senior specialist in pricing and financial management in the housing and utilities sector, and participated in local development.
Babak received assistance from the Edmund Muskie Foundation, which helped her earn a master’s degree in business administration in 1998. The current minister and representative of the Servant of the People party also holds a degree from Old Dominion University (Virginia). She specialized in finance.
In 2004, Babak joined the board of the charitable organization “Institute for Local Development”.
In 2012, Alyona Valerievna was appointed to the National Commission for State Regulation of Public Utilities. Two years later, she moved to the working group under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dealing with housing and utilities.
2014 was a turning point for Aliona Babak — she entered politics. At first, she was a member of the Samopomich party, which became very popular in the wake of post-Maidan sentiment. However, as it turned out, the project was a failure-the party did not show any successful results, and was marked by a number of high-profile scandals. In the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation, Aliona Valeriivna was responsible for construction and housing and communal services. She was also the head of the Equal Opportunities inter-factional association.
After Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the 2019 presidential election, Babak decided not to continue her cooperation with Samopomich and switched to the rapidly gaining popularity Servant of the People party.
Moreover, in August, at the first meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, it was announced that Alyona Babak would take the place of Minister of Communities and Territories of Ukraine in the new government of Oleksiy Honcharuk. It is interesting that Alyona Babak got the ministry, which was created only this year.
Scientific activity. She has published 30 scientific papers on housing and communal services reform and regulation of natural monopolies.
Family.
Alyona Valerievna is officially divorced. However, according to rumors, the woman is in a civil marriage, but the name of her chosen one is unknown. The politician has two children — daughter Kateryna and son Danylo.
In her declaration for 2018, Olena Valeriivna listed a certain Babak Volodymyr Mykolaiovych as a co-owner of one of her apartments. Unfortunately, there is no information about him, but it is unlikely that he is her brother (he has the same surname but different patronymics, and he is not her father).
Compromising evidence
Babak’s activities were assessed by the Russian Federation, whose government imposed sanctions against her, considering her activities dangerous.
Interestingly, many in Ukraine are unhappy with Babak’s appointment as minister. For example, the head of the Housing Union of Ukraine, Oleksandr Skubchenko, called Babak a grantee from Samopomich, who was only engaged in destroying the housing and utilities sector in the Rada.
“Zelensky said that the main task of the new Cabinet would be to audit the multi-apartment housing stock and the state program for its modernization. Do not reinvent the wheel, all this has been discussed many times. Don’t leave the modernization of the housing stock to the grantees: they will ruin the housing reform and housing policy. They will not offer any changes for the better,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Indeed, Babak has no experience in this area and cannot boast of relevant qualifications. In particular, there have been accusations that she is a technical candidate who is not intended for implementation in the Cabinet.
Journalists often criticize the idea of creating a new Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, saying that no one understands the structure of the agency, and the duties of its employees, their goals and objectives are also not clearly defined.
Zelenskyy and Co. are also accused of nepotism. The thing is that Alyona Babak is a fellow countrywoman of Zelensky’s, who will apparently be very “convenient” for the new government.
Ukrainians are also dissatisfied with the appointment of Alyona Babak: social media is full of angry comments that Minister Babak has not shown her effective work over the years. Many people do not understand what the politician will do in the new government and what merits she has achieved.
It’s funny, but one of the stains on the reputation of Alyona Babak, who is one of the authors of the law on housing and communal services, was the title of record debtor for… utilities. Journalists of the “Hroshi” program found out that the politician’s elite apartment had a debt of almost 23 thousand hryvnias. Aliona Valeriyivna denied it, but admitted that she had received receipts with very large amounts. And she did not want to accept what she saw there. It was almost a pun — the main legislator in the housing and utilities sector can’t figure out her own bills.
The scandalous handbag
In 2016, Alyona Babak’s handbag became the subject of a scandal. It turned out that the woman prefers Gucci handbags. The cost of her favorite accessory is 27 thousand hryvnias. This amounts to 24 subsistence minimums of an average Ukrainian. It is worth noting that Olena’s handbags are the most affordable in the last parliament. Many of her fellow lawmakers went to work with handbags at less affordable prices.
Violation of financial control
54 MPs failed to declare their business in their 2014 declarations. In total, we are talking about 100 companies, 52 of which are the MP’s own business, 45 are companies of his or her family members (most often spouses), and two more are joint family businesses. As for the undeclared business, 18 firms are related to agriculture and food, 15 to construction and real estate, 11 to trade, 10 to law and advocacy, and 6 to advertising services.
“Lunch”
In 2018, journalists found out what Alyona Babak thinks about during plenary sessions. She is concerned about lunch. During the plenary, Aliona Babak was corresponding with her assistant, who is listed in her phone book as “VT”. She told her boss what happened to the money for the lunches that Katya did not take. “VT” said that the money was still in Katya’s account.
The press has not been able to find out who Katya is and what is meant by the word “lunch”.
Declaration
She declared UAH 1.221 million in income for 2018.
Of the total income, UAH 447.2 thousand was the MP’s salary, UAH 422.9 thousand was funds related to the performance of parliamentary powers, and UAH 90 thousand was compensation for traveling through the territory of Ukraine.
Also in 2018, Babak received UAH 37.9 thousand of interest from her deposit in Ukreximbank, UAH 112.5 thousand of dividends from the organization “Institute of Local Development” and UAH 110.9 thousand of insurance payments.
Last year, Babak’s son Danylo received UAH 15.4 thousand in salary from the insurance company Providna, and her daughter Kateryna received UAH 120 thousand in alimony from her father.
The minister declared 326.6 thousand hryvnias, 21.7 thousand euros and 451 dollars on her accounts with Ukreximbank, 4,283 dollars on her account with the Ukrainian Innovation Bank, as well as 34 thousand euros and 52 thousand dollars in cash.
She owns 50% each in 3 apartments in Kyiv (total area 48.8 sq. m, 56.8 sq. m, and 188.1 sq. m), 3 plots of land in Vasylkiv district of Kyiv region, 2.5 thousand sq. m each. But if you look at them more closely, your brain starts to make a mistake.
All three plots are located in the same location, of the same size and the ownership rights were acquired on the same day. Two of the plots are priced at $306,800, and the third, despite being identical, at $60,657. There must have been a special offer: “buy two plots and get the third for half price”.
The amount is most likely in dollars. The total amount of land holdings is 674,257 thousand dollars. With her income of 1 million hryvnias (per year). Did she not eat for more than 30 years to grab three plots at once? Let me remind you that all three plots were purchased on the same day.
In addition, Babak owns a 2012 Volkswagen Touareg and a 2005 Mercedes-Benz ML350, and her son owns a 2010 Renault Trafic truck.
The minister also listed in her declaration a Patek Philippe watch made of precious metals and gemstones and Chopard earrings made of precious metals and gemstones, noting that the jewelry was purchased before she became a member of parliament.
It is worth noting that the cheapest Swiss Patek Philippe watch costs $13,000, and there is no documented evidence that the watch was purchased BEFORE her political activities.
According to the declaration, she owns 11.25% of the total capital of the organization “Institute for Local Development”.
Conclusions
Fictitious persons are increasingly appearing in politics. Most likely, Alyona Valeriivna is one of them. Otherwise, how can we explain the situation when a person who is completely far from politics and has no knowledge gets to the post of Minister of Community Development?
Besides, you can’t expect honesty from her: she didn’t list her business in her declaration, or she “made a mistake” with her income by several million.