«Modest Oligarch» Palytsia Increased His Wealth 12-Fold: What One of Ukraine's Richest MPs Declared
Verkhovna Rada Deputy from Volyn and former head of the «For the Future» party, Ihor Palytsia, who appeared in parliament only once in 2023, declared dividends and salary as his income. However, he worked in the Rada for only one day. Despite this, his substantial wealth has increased 12 times compared to 2022.
The politician published his declaration in the Unified State Register of Declarations on March 19.
He has repeatedly promised to include his son Zakhar and former wife Oksana, on whom the lion's share of the MP's business is registered, in his annual report. This includes BUKOVEL LTD, land and apartments in Bukovel, and real estate in Lviv and Odesa. However, his declaration only mentions his daughter Maria, who lives in Switzerland and has no business or other income.
Until September 2023, Palytsia received a salary as an MP. According to the declaration, he was credited with 584,000 UAH. On average, this is about 48,600 UAH per month. However, according to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Palytsia has not been paid a salary since September due to his systematic absence from sessions. Additionally, he received exactly 5 million UAH in dividends from LLC LOOK POINT.
In banks, the MP from Volyn keeps over 27 million UAH: 17.9 million UAH in «PrivatBank», 1 UAH in «IBOX Bank», and 924,000 UAH in «Universal Bank». Palytsia also holds 440,000 UAH in cash.
In his 2023 declaration, as in his 2022 and 2021 declarations, the MP indicated that he is the founder of the Ihor Palytsia Foundation «Only Together» and two companies: the aforementioned LLC LOOK POINT and LLC «High View». The first company's value is 14 million UAH, and the second's is only 1,000 UAH.
Among valuable property in Palytsia's declaration are three watches: two Audemars Piguet (each costing over 10 million UAH) and one Rolex. However, their value is not specified in the document. The oligarch also rents two offices in Lutsk and has an apartment in the city, which was transferred to him by his father, Petro Palytsia. The apartment's value is 2,700,000 UAH, with an area of 423.1 m².
It is worth noting that in 2022, Ihor Palytsia entered the top 100 richest Ukrainians according to Forbes Ukraine, although his ranking dropped from 44th to 49th place.
Along with his income in 2023, Palytsia's expenses also increased. Last year, he spent 600,000 UAH on security services. He paid 1 million UAH for the management of corporate rights of LLC LOOK POINT. He also spent on temporary accommodation services – 2,641,780 UAH. From the dividends received, the MP paid 250,000 UAH in tax.
Recall that earlier, the Center for Investigative Journalism's "Power of Truth" investigated what the politician could have declared if he had kept his word.
Moreover, in 2021, the Office of the Prosecutor General opened a criminal case regarding the alleged crime by MP Ihor Palytsia, specifically the legalization (laundering) of illegally obtained income. However, the results of this investigation are unknown.
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