NABU took on the Odesa ex-prosecutor after the “Scheme” investigation into his Dubai property

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau opened criminal proceedings regarding the alleged declaration of false information by Oleg Kornilov, the former deputy prosecutor of the Odesa region. The basis of the case, in particular, was the facts from the investigation of “Scheme” (Radio Liberty) about the ex-prosecutor’s real estate in Dubai, which he did not mention in any of his declarations, the bureau’s press service informed journalists.

Prior to this, the National Anti-Corruption Agency conducted a review of Kornilov’s declaration for 2022, and based on the results, a reasoned conclusion on the grounds of unreliable information was sent to NABU.

“Information made public in the program of journalistic investigations “Scheme” regarding the assets, in particular, real estate objects of the former head of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Odesa region, is the subject of a pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings initiated by NABU detectives on 12/20/2024 on the grounds of the crime provided for in Part 1 of Art. . 366-2 of the Criminal Procedure Code (declaration of false information),” the press service of the anti-corruption bureau said in a response.

Earlier, a notice appeared on the website of the NAZK about the completion of the verification of Kornilov’s declaration, based on the results of which the department drew up a conclusion and published it on the official website. In particular, the National Agency confirmed that he has undeclared real estate in Dubai, which was previously reported by “Schemes”.

“During the inspection by the National Agency, it was established that the subject of the declaration owns real estate located in the United Arab Emirates, which is confirmed by the information of the official land registry of Dubai,” the results of the inspection of the NAKC state.

In the “Scheme” investigation, “Dubai Unlocked. Ukrainian people’s deputies, judges, retired prosecutors and Dubai property worth tens of millions of dollars”, published in May 2024, it was about Kornilov’s property worth more than 400 thousand US dollars, namely two apartments in Jumeirah Bay X1 Tower, which he purchased during 2011-2012, and a hotel room in Aykon City-Tower B, which Kornilov became the owner of in 2016. The ex-prosecutor has been renting out these apartments since 2014, as evidenced by transaction data from the Dubai State Register available to journalists. In total, he managed to earn more than 100 thousand US dollars from such activities.

In 2020, Kornilov first sold one apartment, and later the second, this happened in 2023. In total, he received more than 250 thousand US dollars for them. As of December 2024, Kornilov still owns the hotel room he purchased for $210,000.

When asked by journalists about real estate in Dubai, Kornilov himself said: “I don’t have apartments there”, and after clarifying that these data are confirmed by the country’s official register, he hung up and did not answer further calls and messages.

In addition, the NAZC also established that the Odessa ex-prosecutor did not indicate in the declaration monetary assets, income, corporate rights, the value of vehicles in the amount of more than 2 million hryvnias. Based on the results of the inspection, the NAKC drew up a substantiated conclusion based on Part 1 of Art. 366-2 of the Criminal Code (introduction of known false information to the declaration) and sent it to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

Oleg Kornilov was the deputy chief prosecutor of Odesa, after that he moved to the position of deputy head of the investigative department of the regional prosecutor’s office, and even later became the head of the unit. But in 2014, after the Revolution of Dignity, he was censured – he was dismissed from his post in accordance with the law “On Purification of Power”. Kornilov sued the Odesa District Administrative Court for the prosecutor’s office to reinstate him with salary for the period of “enforced absenteeism” and lift the 10-year ban on holding positions.

In 2020, the Odesa District Administrative Court decided to reinstate him as the head of the investigative department of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Odesa Region, and a year later the local appellate administrative court finally confirmed this decision. He was also paid more than 2.3 million hryvnias from the budget for “forced absenteeism” since 2014. After the renewal, Oleg Kornilov remained in his position for a little over a year, in August 2022 he resigned “of his own free will”.

Dubai Unlocked is an international project based on a dataset of property owners in Dubai obtained by the Washington Center for Defense Studies (C4ADS). This data was later transferred to the Norwegian financial publication E24 and the Corruption and Organized Crime Investigation Project (OCCRP), which coordinated the work of more than 70 media from around the world. As part of this project, “Schemes” also found the property of the families of current and former officials in Dubai, including Mykola Zlochevskyi, the minister of ecology during Yanukovych’s time, and also found out that the former deputy head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Ruslan Cherkasskyi purchased real estate in Dubai together with a businessman involved in the production of cigarettes with counterfeit excise taxes.

In November 2024, based on data from a Dubai leak, “Schemes” published an investigation that the daughter and nephew of the People’s Deputy “Servant of the People” from the Defense Committee Gennady Kasai already during the full-scale war purchased luxury real estate in Dubai for more than one million dollars .