Anatolii Hryhorovych Gunko
Official biography
Born on March 12, 1976 in the village of Salne, Chernihiv region. Director of the Guild of Law LLC, Head of the NGO “Human Rights Protection Plus”.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Guild of Good Charitable Foundation.
On July 21, 2019, he was elected as a candidate for the 209th constituency from Batkivshchyna.
October 25, 2020 — elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Servant of the People party in the 208th constituency.
Education.
Anatoliy has two degrees: in law and economics.
Family.
His wife, Nataliia Hunko, ran for the Kyiv Regional Council and won the election in 2015 from the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. Natalia Gunko is currently a member of the Kyiv Regional Council from the Servant of the People party.
Together with his wife, he has a son and a daughter.
Compromat
2016 Gunko was involved in a land scam in Brovary. In 2013, the local authorities illegally distributed the former land of the state-owned Radio Transmission Center, and Gunko received one of the plots.
Anatoliy Hunko was tried in 2018 for the illegal seizure of a plot of land of strategic importance in Brovary.
This was reported by journalist Serhiy Rudenko, Censor.NET reports.
The case was closed in 2019, and on May 15, 2020, the Pechersk Court of Kyiv lifted the seizure of Gunko’s property. The journalist also reported that «Gunko was a lawyer for Mykhailivskyi Bank owned by Viktor Polishchuk, the owner of the Eldorado home appliances and electronics chain and the Gulliver shopping center, who was accused of driving Mykhailivskyi Bank into bankruptcy.»
In June 2020, Gunko filed a lawsuit to recover non-pecuniary damage for unlawful criminal prosecution. In his lawsuit, he stated that he had suffered severe mental anguish, negative changes in his personal life, and lost his business reputation as a public figure engaged in social and political activities. The unlawful prosecution and the appearance of a number of negative publications significantly affected the attitude of his friends, acquaintances and partners, undermined his authority and status as a respectable person.
Also, according to Informator’s sources, Gunko is trying to organize a “network” to bribe voters. The person responsible for this is Natalia Lobastova, an assistant to the current MP Serhiy Shakhov, who is involved in a number of criminal proceedings for bribing voters and financial fraud, and has a reputation as a person who likes to appropriate a significant part of the election budget at her disposal. However, according to the expert, even if the “grid” is successfully launched, it will be impossible to win against Oleh Lyashko in the 208th district.
Despite the restrictions, the Servants of the People gathered in a hotel and restaurant complex during the lockdown
During the lockdown, MPs from the Servant of the People party, Andriy Motovylovets, Anatoliy Gunko, Artem Kultenko, and their fellow party members from the Kyiv Regional Council, held a meeting for many hours at the Koncha Zaspa Park country hotel and restaurant complex. The co-owner of the restaurant in this establishment is Serhiy Levchenko, a deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council from the SN party, who also attended the meeting. This happened during the time when the authorities imposed bans on mass gatherings, bans on conference rooms in hotels and on serving unauthorized visitors. This is stated in an investigation by the Schemes program (a project of Radio Liberty and UA:Pershyi). Some participants of the meeting explained the meeting in the complex by the “paralyzed work of the regional council” and the inability to find “another coworking space.”
On April 20, at about 17:00, Schemes noticed a Range Rover registered to MP Anatoliy Hunko from the Servant of the People party and more than ten premium cars in the parking lot of the Koncha Zaspa Park suburban complex near Obukhiv highway.
«The «schemes» also noticed a BMW there, the license plate of which is registered to Natalia Gunko, a deputy from the Servant of the People party from the Kyiv Regional Council.
The fight against Lyashko
The elections in the 208th were in the center of attention of the press and politicians for a number of reasons. This is the only constituency in the Verkhovna Rada that was “played out” this season, and the constituency in which Oleh Lyashko is going to return after last year’s defeat of the RPL. For Lyashko, this constituency is his home in every sense. He was born here, became a member of the Verkhovna Rada for the first time, “seated” local community leaders and district state administrations, security forces and officials, and grew party structures.
The situation with Gunko is different. The candidate was not widely known in the constituency, he lives in Brovary, and his business is also based in the Kyiv region and the capital. To top it all off, from the very first days Anatoliy Hunko became the target of «dirty» attacks. The story of a falsified criminal case against Gunko, which had been filed under Poroshenko, was quickly pulled out of old sources. He was called many things — a super-raider, an embezzler of national wealth, and an agent of Putin who destroyed a strategic facility. In addition, two «doubles» were registered at once — unemployed people who never even appeared in the constituency. And this was only at the start of the campaign. Then it got even worse. There were attacks on the offices of «radical» activists who planted anti-Lyashko brochures in the headquarters and on this basis accused Gunko’s team of «black PR» and «buying up».
At the finish line, a different situation occurred. There was falsification of 27 complaints filed by Lyashko’s supporters with the TEC at the counting stage. The complaints were based not on acts, as required by law, but on the «testimony» of three Lyashko’s staffers who allegedly «visited» 27 polling stations with a gap of 10-20 minutes. And these 10-20 minutes were allegedly enough for them to see some fictitious «falsifications,» find their witnesses, draw up a complaint and even «sign» it with the «witnesses.» However, it later turned out that two of the three «signatories» did not know about these complaints and even feared criminal prosecution for participating in the fraud.
“Duplicates”
“Duplicates” are on the ballot for the by-elections to the Verkhovna Rada in the 208th constituency in Chernihiv Oblast. Anatoliy Hryhorovych Hunko, a candidate from the Servant of the People party, is running there, as well as self-nominated candidates Anatoliy Mykolayovych Hunko and Ihor Hunko.
The Security Service of Ukraine reported that a candidate for mayor of Svitlovodsk in Kirovohrad region tried to hire a “double” of his rival. The candidate and his assistant were detained after handing over UAH 10,000 to the to the “double”.
As of October 7, law enforcement officers had opened 11 criminal proceedings over the registration of “lookalike” candidates, the Interior Ministry reported.
Bribery of voters
Singer Pavlo Zibrov, also known as PE Zibrov P.M., made several appearances in support of majoritarian candidate Anatoliy Hunko from the 208th constituency (Chernihiv region). He sang in the village of Ivanitsa on June 28, in the village of Losynivka on June 29, in the village of Vertiyivka on July 1, and in the village of Varva on July 19.
In total, according to the report, Zibrov received 30 thousand hryvnias from Hunko’s election fund. No other expenses related to the concerts are mentioned in the candidate’s report. Therefore, on average, Gunko paid the singer 7,000 hryvnias for one concert (which is untrue, because one performance of this artist at such a concert in front of voters during a parliamentary campaign costs between 10 and 15 thousand US dollars — Argument). Also, Batkivshchyna candidate Anatoliy Gunko organized a concert of singer Olga Polyakova in the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region.
On July 13-14, 2019, with the assistance of Batkivshchyna candidate Anatoliy Hunko, concerts of Freestyle in Nosivka and Pavlo Dvorsky in Sribnyi, Chernihiv region, were organized.
Batkivshchyna candidate Gunko used Kyiv City Council vehicles for campaigning
Gunko helps candidates for the post of state registrar to “solve” exams.
SN deputy Gunko is engaged in petty crime, helping candidates for the post of state registrar to “solve” exams.
According to rumors, Gunko is connected to criminal circles, and as we can see, the scope of Gunko’s criminal activity extends to solving such issues.
“The boss told me to change”: MP Gunko got involved in financial transactions in the Rada
MP Anatoliy Gunko, who won the by-election in the 208th constituency in Chernihiv region in mid-November, got carried away with business correspondence during today’s session of the Verkhovna Rada.
“Ihor, not 45, not 42,” the MP wrote to an unknown contact, recorded as Ihor Kalinichenko. In response, Gunko was asked to contact a certain Anya, as “she has the money.”
After several manipulations with a calculator, first dividing 1.2 million by 28 and then multiplying 42,000 by 28, the MP wrote to the contact under the name “Anna Finance” and passed on the information from the unknown “boss” to her.
“Good afternoon. Anya, Ihor gave me a contract for 45, but the boss said to change 42. He will take the 3rd one. Thank you.”
“Servant of the People” Gunko turned his participation in a criminal scheme into 2 million
The Pechersk court ordered the MP from the Servant of the People party Anatoliy Gunko to pay UAH 2 million in moral compensation for illegal actions of law enforcement agencies. The editorial office of 368.media learned about this from the materials of the proceedings.
Law enforcement officers opened proceedings against the MP on March 29, 2018, which were investigated until the end of March 2019, including 4 days in custody — from March 29 to April 2, 2018.
For the four days of detention, he was awarded the minimum compensation guaranteed by the state — 20 thousand hryvnias. The MP himself estimated the moral damages he suffered at UAH 10 million, but the court only partially satisfied the claim.
It is worth noting that at the time, investigators provided evidence that Anatoliy Gunko had serious corruption ties to both law enforcement and government agencies. It was these “useful connections” that saved him.
For almost a year in the status of a suspect, the court, “based on the principle of justice, good faith and reasonableness, as well as in accordance with the proportionality of the claims to the suffering suffered by the plaintiff in the period from March 29, 2018 to March 20, 2019,” the court decided to recover UAH 2 million in non-pecuniary damage from the state in favor of the MP.
At the command of the Deputy Interior Minister, scandalous raider Gunko attacks Brovary developers
According to law enforcement sources, on the command of one of the deputy ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the former owner of the bankrupt Mykhailivskyi Bank, Viktor Polishchuk, through his proxy Anatoliy Gunko, initiated searches in the framework of criminal case No. 12019110000000994 (corporate conflict, on the one hand, between the scandalous developer Alliance Novobud and its entities associated with the former owners of the failed Mykhailivskyi, and on the other hand, with the developer Grassfield).
As journalists learned, searches were conducted at six addresses, including the Kyiv apartments of lawyer Oleksandr Oliynyk, the most famous human rights activist from Mykolaiv who has been working since 1994.
The searches were authorized by the head of the Boryspil Interdistrict Court of Kyiv Region, Serhiy Vozniuk, and his deputies, and as many as 25 investigators (!!!) were included in the investigation team. The resolution to create the investigation team was personally signed on January 30 by the deputy head of the Kyiv regional police, the head of the investigation department, Serhiy Rekun.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs unofficially confirms that after the command from above, the searches were carried out in a hurry without proper preparation, and, therefore, the security forces committed gross procedural violations.
In particular, as it turned out, the search was conducted by an investigator who is not a member of the investigation team in this criminal proceeding.
In addition, law enforcement officers did not inform lawyer Oliynyk in any way about the search on the territory of his private property, did not contact him by mobile phone or other available means.
But the most important thing is that the so-called “investigative actions” against the lawyer cannot be carried out so easily, as they require a special procedure.
In addition, a representative of the regional bar council must be present during such a search, and law enforcement officers are obliged to notify the regional bar council at the place of such a procedural action in advance.
It also turned out that the “law enforcement officers”, with the consent of Judge Ihor Bondarenko of the Boryspil Interdistrict Court, also searched the apartment of lawyer Olena Mavrodieva. She said that no one had warned her about the “investigative actions”, the search was conducted with many violations, and contrary to the procedure and requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar and Practice of Law”.
Moreover, as it became known, the security forces, together with unidentified “thugs”, attempted to search the GORO legal law firm in Kyiv, which represents the interests of Grassfield LLC, in order to seize the lawyer’s file and, as a result, block the work on protecting the client’s interests. But for unknown reasons, this special operation was postponed.
A new “servant” came to the Rada with a $12,000 watch
Anatoliy Gunko, a member of the Servant of the People faction, who recently won the by-election to the Verkhovna Rada in the 208th constituency in Chernihiv Oblast, came to a parliamentary session with an expensive Breguet watch.
According to Apostrophe, the cost of such a model on the Internet is $12,000.
That’s why the MP wears a watch that costs more than 150 subsistence minimums in Ukraine.
Official data: how much Hunko spent on the campaign in the 208th constituency
Unlike Oleh Lyashko, Anatoliy Hunko invested his own money in the election campaign — 562752 hryvnias. No other sources of funds were indicated in the official report.
About a fifth of the funds, 117140 hryvnias, was spent on printed campaigning. UAH 358672 was spent on publication of political advertisements in print media. Hunko did not pay for airtime on television and radio. Another 62,140 hryvnias were spent on billboards, signs and city lights. 24,800 was the cost of holding public events and distributing advertising.
At the same time, the reports do not indicate funds for the production and distribution of video products and advertising on Internet resources.
According to Volodymyr Andreychenko, head of the regional branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, these figures could have been concealed for several reasons.
“The first option. It was not paid for from official sources, i.e., with black money. And most often, this situation occurs when a candidate orders a set of services from a sole proprietor or other legal entity that provides placement, marketing, etc. And, in fact, the report then shows that they formally spent money on a certain service, but in fact there may be several such services.”
In general, according to Andreychenko, it is hard to believe in the veracity of candidates’ official reports. He estimates that the amounts spent by candidates on the campaign are many times higher.
“It’s extremely difficult to verify this information because few people want to take part in public, including printers and web designers. They are used to working quietly, and shadow budgets remain a significant part. According to our rough estimates, last year’s parliamentary elections cost from two million dollars per district.”
Revenues
According to his declaration for 2019, Gunko earned UAH 488,000 as an individual entrepreneur, received another UAH 243,000 from Guild of Law LLC, and received dividends worth UAH 78,000 from the Guild of Law law firm.
He keeps $500 thousand in cash (~UAH 142 million in 2020), 120 thousand euros (almost UAH 4 million) and UAH 3 million.
Real estate:
— 1 house of 221 m2 worth UAH 800,000;
— 3 apartments with a total area of 106, 69 and 69 m2;
— 15 land plots with a total area of 73,523 m2;
— 1 summer cottage with a total area of 586 m2.
Jewelry, clothes:
Fur coats, diamond rings, Rolexes, etc. The only caveat is that the cost of any of the items is not specified.
Family cars
There are six of them. For example, two BMW cars: one is valued at almost 4 million 700 thousand, the other — more than 1.5 million hryvnias. Anatoliy Hunko also has a Range Rover worth over UAH 1 million.
Summary
Servants of the People has a new addition. A new face with a long criminal past. Now this is not surprising. Defectors, traitors and criminals, such as Gunko and his family, automatically end up in the SN. Having no principles and no political ideology of their own, Anatoliy Gunko and his wife are making their way to power at any cost, regardless of political party. Now, a former organized crime leader who seized valuable state land has joined the ranks of the people’s servants. There is only one conclusion here — unfortunately, Anatoliy Gunko is not the candidate who could bring good to the people.