Luxury Real Estate in a Cemetery: Former Prosecutor Verbytsky Declared Ownership of a Plot in an Odesa Cemetery, While NABU Is Searching for His 30 Million
Dmytro Verbytskyi, the former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, against whom anti-corruption authorities found evidence of illicit enrichment totaling more than 30 million hryvnias, managed to declare a plot at a municipal cemetery in Odesa as an item of “free use.”
This information came to light from official documents of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) following a full audit of the former prosecutor’s financial disclosure statement, which were made available to our editorial staff. While the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is investigating a criminal case regarding his millions in assets, the newly admitted member of the “Batkivshchyna” party has demonstrated a literally otherworldly level of transparency to the state.
Top Findings by Anti-Corruption Investigators: From Criminal Offenses to the Afterlife
Based on the results of an audit of Verbytskyi’s amended annual declaration for 2023, the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) officially documented two serious criminal offenses, which have already been referred to NABU:
- Illegal enrichment under Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine amounting to a colossal 30,266,502 hryvnias, the origin of which cannot be explained by the family’s official income.
- False statements in the declaration (Part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)—the amount of inaccurate information (in simpler terms, “errors” in the prosecutor’s favor) totaled 2,379,310 hryvnias.
However, the real gem of the entire audit report was the section on real estate. In an attempt to prove that he was disclosing absolutely everything to the public, Verbytsky included in his declaration a 17.92-square-meter plot of land in Odesa that belongs to the municipal enterprise “Specialized Enterprise for Municipal and Public Services”—that is, the city cemetery.
A “burial vault” in his possession and a stern lecture from the NACP
The former Deputy Prosecutor General even backed up his “afterlife” assets with documentation, providing the NACP with a copy of an official burial certificate in which he is listed as the “user of the plot.” According to Verbytskyi, the right to erect grave markers automatically equates a grave with real estate, which must be disclosed to the Ukrainian people.
The NACP did not appreciate such gallantry and gave the former top prosecutor a crash course on the Civil Code:
“Land under burial sites is communal property and is not subject to privatization or lease, and a burial certificate only grants the right to organize the burial and erect a monument, but does not make a person the ‘owner or lessee’ of communal concrete. This information was not required to be included in the declaration at all.”
The Turkish-Odesa Gambit with His Ex-Wife
This cemetery oddity seems particularly cynical against the backdrop of Verbytsky’s attempts to hide his actual elite estates. In his public blog posts and interviews, he has insistently claimed that his ex-wife, V.V. Verbytska, has been a complete stranger to him since their divorce in 2023, and therefore her property is none of his business.
But his past as a prosecutor once again succumbed to legal illiteracy: Verbytsky himself listed his ex-wife’s assets in his declaration as “place of residence (free use)”:
- Another apartment and a plot of land in the elite Turkish resort of Antalya (Alanya).
- A luxurious residential building in Odesa with an area of 420.1 square meters, including the land.
The NACP clearly established that the divorce was merely a smokescreen, and that all these foreign and Ukrainian properties were in fact acquired with the personal funds of Dmytro Verbytskyi, who has the full right to dispose of them directly or indirectly.
Political Connections and the Mystery of the Investigation
Currently, detailed investigations into the Turkish and Odesa properties are blocked by the secrecy of the investigation, as the NACP’s materials have been officially incorporated into the NABU criminal proceedings.
A dissertation against corruption and renting from a friend: the controversial Dmytro Verbytskyi explains how he is evading mobilization and court proceedings
Instead of facing trial, the controversial former official is now calmly sipping coffee and building a political career, complaining to investigative journalists’ cameras: “I don’t live a lavish life, but I don’t live badly either.” What’s more, it turns out that his luxurious home in the capital is simply an act of incredible friendly generosity. Commenting on the pittance he pays to rent a house in an elite cottage community, Verbytskyy looks journalists straight in the eye and assures them: “I rent it from a friend. Well, this isn’t a perk; these are average market rates for renting houses, uh, in this region. And this has been verified, uh, by NAZK officials.”
While the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) seem to be trying to get a case to court for the third year in a row, the former law enforcement official has found a foolproof way to dodge mobilization—he’s become a graduate student and is working on his dissertation. The topic of this academic work by a man with millions in unexplained assets is simply mockingly perfect: “anti-corruption legislation.” Asserting that “I’ve been studying my whole life,” the former prosecutor—who is practically a professor already—has already outlined his plans for the future: “I want to continue working at a university and pass on my knowledge.” And he certainly has plenty to pass on—for example, a unique scheme for officially earning about $2,000 at the prosecutor’s office while receiving “birthday gifts” from relatives.
“Well, they helped out—they gave me gifts for my birthday, and that was my savings… Well, my mother could have given me $5,000,” the future luminary of science declares without a hint of embarrassment.
When the conversation turns to the origin of his family’s wealth, the classic, rock-solid legend of Ukrainian bureaucracy about wealthy relatives comes into play.
“My father was a captain on a long-haul ship. I think you understand how much a long-haul ship captain earns. Well, starting at $10,000 a month,” Verbytsky boasts. But for some reason, he refused to brag about his new Audi SQ8 worth 100 thousand greenbacks on camera, instantly switching to a tone of aggressive defense:
“Look, this car is registered in my name. You can look it up online. If you want, I’ll come to your studio, I’ll give you an interview, I’ll show you the documents. Show me the questions you want to ask. I’ll answer them. I’ll show you the documents. Conduct the interview objectively. I don’t like provocations like the one you’re pulling right now.” Verbytskyi now plans to scale up all this “anti-corruption” success in the world of big-time politics—he has taken the helm of the district branch of Yulia Tymoshenko’s party. However, even here the logic has gone out the window, because, in the words of the newly minted party member himself: “As of today, whether to go into politics or not, I’m still—let’s say—not fully ready to go into politics. I am currently a party member and serve as the head of the branch in the Khadzhibeyevsky District. No, I do not sponsor the party.”
Under what exact conditions “Batkivshchyna” took in such a toxic figure remains an open question. For now, Dmytro Anatoliyovych feels so confident and immune from consequences that, instead of sitting in the dock, he’s attacking law enforcement officials himself: “I am currently in a legal battle with the NACP, since the NACP clearly stated in a publication that they found evidence of illicit enrichment on my part, that they identified the elements of a crime, and that all of this was acquired on my instructions.”
The former prosecutor actively flaunts his legal battles on Facebook, personally racking up hundreds of reposts under his own posts to create the illusion of support. However, the public does not find this funny at all, because behind the facade of these absurd justifications and partisan manipulations, a sad reality is clearly evident: the Verbytsky case may simply be being deliberately and artificially stalled behind the scenes by anti-corruption agencies.
In addition, the UA.NEWS editorial team has already sent an official inquiry to party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, asking her to explain the ethical criteria for selecting such associates. It has also appealed to People’s Deputies Oleksiy Honcharenko and Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who head the relevant temporary investigative commissions, asking them to personally oversee the investigation into the former prosecutor, which began in May 2024.
