More than three dozen relatives or friends of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s family have been given high government posts despite the Ukrainian leader’s promises not to engage in “nepotism”. This is according to the results of an investigation by Bihus.Info
“After Zelensky won the presidential election, Oleksandr Vigliano became deputy head of Ukrzaliznytsya’s project office. The man had previously worked as an architect and was in no way connected with the railway, but his wife Lyudmila has been working with Kvartal 95 LLC since at least 2016”, – the journalists noted.
According to Bihus.Info’s sources, Vigliano received a salary from Ukrzaliznytsia of over 200,000 hryvnias per month in 2021. In addition, Oleksandr’s wife gave about UAH 700,000 to the campaign of Zelensky, who ran for president, in early 2019.
“The SBU post was given to Anna Kuchuk, whose husband Dmytro donated UAH 368,000 to candidate Zelensky. According to Anna, the family was collecting the money for a new home, but decided to “invest in change in the country”. Kuchuk was then working as a teller at the Globus bank, where the accounts of Zelensky and later of the People’s Servant party were opened”, – the agency said.
Zelensky’s friends also found themselves in key positions in the Antimonopoly Committee. In September 2019, Iryna Kopaigora took over as state commissioner there. Journalists found out that before that Iryna worked at the legal regulation of economics department of the Kryvyi Rih Economic Institute, and her father – also a lecturer – used to study with Zelensky.
Moreover, many people associated with Zelensky’s family and business through Kvartal 95 and Liga Ljeliha Ljeliha became people’s deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2019 from the “Servant of the People” party. Remarkably, representatives of this political force hardly speak at the Rada, but are more zealous than others in supporting Zelensky’s legislative initiatives.