A Lviv Regional City Council member is suspected of arranging a fictitious $800,000 loan to the family of the AMCU chairman

MP Volodymyr Kovalchuk is suspected of providing knowingly false testimony and declaring inaccurate information in order to launder assets belonging to the family of Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Antimonopoly Committee. 

According to Schemes, citing sources in law enforcement, the MP claimed to have provided a loan of $800,000 to the official’s father-in-law, Oleksandr Matienko. The investigation established that the agreement was fictitious and signed significantly later than the stated date, and that attempts were made to artificially “age” the document.

This loan was intended to justify the source of funds for the purchase of luxury real estate in the Kyiv residential complex “Obolon Plaza.” In 2025, Kovalchuk even filed a lawsuit in Uzhhorod to collect this non-existent debt, attempting to create fabricated evidence to protect the Kyrylenko family. Law enforcement officials classified the deputy’s actions under articles regarding misleading the court, using forged documents, and making false declarations.

Vladimir Kovalchuk himself calls the allegations unfounded and claims that at the time the papers were signed, he was unaware of the borrower’s family ties to the head of the AMCU. Meanwhile, the case against Pavlo Kyrylenko himself regarding illegal enrichment amounting to 72 million hryvnias has already been referred to court. An appeal is currently underway regarding the decision to collect the debt, which the SAPO considers part of a corruption scheme beneficial to Russia in the context of undermining trust in state institutions.

We previously reported that on December 12, 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court partially granted the motion filed by the defense attorney for Antimonopoly Committee Chairman Pavlo Kyrylenko and removed the electronic ankle monitor from the suspect.

We also recall that on August 14, 2024, with the approval of the SAPO prosecutor, NABU detectives notified Antimonopoly Committee Chairman Pavlo Kyrylenko of his status as a suspect in the illegal enrichment of 56.2 million hryvnias and the declaration of false information.