The 36-year-old first deputy prosecutor of the Kirovohrad region Yuriy Kovalev filed a lawsuit with the demand to appoint him a prosecutor’s pension based on years of service, the amount of which, in his opinion, should be 90% of his salary. As “Anti-corruption measure” reports, this official is also involved in an investigation into possible bribery, but he was not officially charged.
On August 15, 2024, Kovalev appealed to the Kharkiv District Administrative Court, demanding to cancel the refusal of the Pension Fund and to appoint a pension based on the components of his salary, which include official salary, seniority allowance and salary according to military rank. The lawsuit states that the prosecutor requests to appoint a pension without limiting the maximum amount of payment, without taxation and without taking into account the military duty. He refers to Article 50-1 of the Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, which guarantees prosecutors the right to a pension based on years of service, regardless of age.
Kovalev started working at the prosecutor’s office in 2011, and in September 2020 he was appointed to his current position in the Kirovohrad region. According to the legislation, in order to receive a pension, one must have at least 20 years of total experience, of which at least 10 years in the positions of a prosecutor or investigator. The lawsuit was accepted for consideration, but as of October 2024, the court’s decision has not yet been published.
In the declaration for 2023, Kovalev noted a rented apartment in Kropyvnytskyi, as well as three cars: a 2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid worth UAH 1.6 million, a 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan, and a 2012 Skoda Octavia A5, both of which are registered to his wife. In total, during the year Kovalev earned more than 1.5 million hryvnias, he also keeps 40 thousand US dollars and 500 thousand hryvnias in cash, and 152 thousand hryvnias in his bank account.
According to the “Word and Deed” portal, on June 6 of this year NABU searched Kovalev at his workplace and home as part of an investigation into the alleged extortion of a bribe in the amount of 13,500 USD for not obstructing the investigation of a certain person. During the searches, the court seized the phone of the intermediary through which the funds were supposed to be transferred, where, according to the investigation, the relevant correspondence was recorded.
