The investigation into the alleged illicit enrichment of former Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Verbytsky remains stalled at the evidence-gathering stage for a third consecutive year, with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) yet to serve a formal notice of suspicion. Meanwhile, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has ordered the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) to remove all official publications regarding the former official’s questioned assets from its website.
The criminal proceedings were initiated following an investigative report by Schemes (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) in mid-2024. Journalists uncovered a townhouse in the prestigious «Konyk» gated community valued at approximately $500,000, registered under Verbytsky’s nephew and purchased at one-sixth of its market value. Furthermore, his partner, Khrystyna Ilnytska, acquired assets worth 48 million UAH—including a luxury cottage, a Porsche, and a beauty salon—despite declaring an official income of just 360,000 UAH over a ten-year period.
Following its own lifestyle monitoring, the NACP initially identified 29 million UAH in unexplainable assets, later alleging an additional 30.2 million UAH in illicit enrichment alongside 2.3 million UAH in false declaration data for 2023. The questionable wealth spanned luxury vehicles, real estate in Turkey, cryptocurrency, and land plots. Although all findings were transferred to NABU, key assets—including the cottage gifted by Ilnytska to her mother—remain unseized as of August 2026.
NABU Director Semen Kryvonos stated that the investigation remains active, citing ongoing forensic examinations and pending requests for international legal assistance. However, legal experts voice concern over the lack of progress.
«The case is effectively being buried and may never reach the courtroom,» noted Stanislav Bronevytskyi, attorney and former SAPO prosecutor.
Sources familiar with the matter suggest several factors behind the delay, ranging from personal connections within NABU’s leadership structure to informal intervention by former high-ranking prosecution officials and shifting political dynamics.
Compounding the delay, Judge Yevhen Khainatskyi of the Pechersk District Court ruled in favor of Verbytsky’s defense, requiring the NACP to retract its statements and delete references to the 29 million UAH in unverified assets. The court determined that the agency’s language was «excessively definitive» prior to a final judicial verdict—a conclusion supported by a defense-commissioned linguistic analysis. The NACP retains the right to appeal the decision.