Case description
On February 20, 2025, the HACC found former MP Vitalii Barvinenko guilty of unlawfully receiving over UAH 613,000 in compensation for housing rental.
Vitalii Barvinenko is a former Member of Parliament of Ukraine, the current head of the Odesa District Council, and, since February 2024, an associate professor at the Department of State Studies, Law, and European Integration at Odesa Polytechnic National University.
According to the investigation, in 2019, while owning residential property in Kyiv, Barvinenko continued to reside in a room at the state-owned Hotel Kyiv without proper grounds. For this, he unlawfully received over UAH 613,000 in compensation from the state budget.
Barvinenko admitted his guilt. Initially, the defense argued that he was exercising his legal right as an MP to housing rather than abusing his office, and that all information about his property was public and disclosed in his asset declarations.
The HACC approved the plea agreement and found Barvinenko guilty under Article 364(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Instead of a 3-year prison sentence, the court imposed a 1-year probation period. Barvinenko was also barred from holding public office for one year.
The former MP fully reimbursed the damages. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he also pledged to transfer UAH 2.5 million in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, UAH 1 million previously posted as bail will also be transferred to the Armed Forces.
