Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has become the latest top official to come under scrutiny because of a taste for luxurious getaways.
In early January, Lutsenko’s family spent a week in the Four Seasons Resort in the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, paying an estimated 50,000 euros for the trip, according to Schemes, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s investigative unit.
Lutsenko said that he and his wife, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko’s lawmaker Iryna Lutsenko, only covered the accommodation costs for themselves and their younger son, paying some $20,000. His older son, Oleksandr Lutsenko, reportedly paid for everything else, including the flights.
“There was nothing excessive,” Lutsenko told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty when his vacation became known. “This is something a typical middle-class Ukrainian can afford.”
The comment rapidly brought criticism upon Lutsenko in Ukraine, where the average salary is about $300 a month, one of the lowest in Europe.
Lutsenko’s pricey vacation made the headlines just two weeks after journalists revealed that Poroshenko vacated in the Maldives during the winter holidays, spending approximately $500,000 for a week-long getaway. The first family reportedly used fake names and booked a private jet to fly to the resort.
Family trip
The Schemes program estimated that the overall price of Lutsenkos family vacation was at least 52,000 euros. The family of five allegedly stayed in two Hilltop Ocean View Villas. The villas of this type are offered for 2,600 euros per night for January 2019 on the resort’s website.
Larysa Sargan, Lutsenko’s spokesperson, refused to confirm or deny the family was staying in the luxury Four Seasons Resort, saying “it’s private information.” But the estimated price of a seven-day stay in the resort’s villa fits Lutsenko’s confirmed spending of $20,000 for accommodation.
Both Iryna and Yuriy Lutsenko declared getting presents worth of Hr 170,000 (5,000 euros) from their son Oleksandr Lutsenko on Jan. 2, which the prosecutor general said were the plane tickets to the Seychelles.
Lutsenko said his older son was able to afford it due to his business activities.
According to the Justice Ministry Registry, Oleksandr Lutsenko, 28, became a registered taxpayer in 2012 and now is involved in several businesses: consulting, information technologies, retail, management in computer technologies. He is also a landlord, owning and renting out properties.
However, it appears that at least some of the businesses he owns are family enterprises. One of them is a Kyiv beauty salon Bel Fam, previously owned by his mother.
According to Lutsenkos’ electronic declarations register, their older son frequently spoils his parents with presents. In July, Iryna Lutsenko declared getting a present worth Hr 119,000 from her son.
Lutsenko said that he and his family decided to spend time together to celebrate Lutsenkos 30th marriage anniversary and the wedding of Oleksandr Lutsenko, who tied a knot in September and didn’t go for a honeymoon right away. Seychelles were the choice of the newlyweds, according to Lutsenko.
Prosecutor’s income
Lutsenko responded to the vacation story by publishing his salary bulletin. According to it, Lutsenko’s after-tax salary was a little over Hr 1 million ($36,000) in 2017.
He boasted that he donated some Hr 450,000 ($16,000) in December for the treatment of the veterans of Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine.
His wife, he added, has been making some Hr 110,000 ($4,000) a month, and also spent some of it for charity. Previously, she said on Facebook that she donated to people with disabilities in Lviv and raised money for Ukrainian servicemen.
Their joint income, Lutsenko claimed, allowed for a $20,000 Christmas vacation.
Middle class?
The claim that a middle-class Ukrainian can afford a seven-day vacation of $20,000 was met with astonishment by many.
Yegor Soboliev, a reformist lawmaker and ex-head of the anti-corruption committee in the Ukrainian parliament, wrote on Facebook on Jan. 31 that “while trying to solve more than 30,000 claims from Ukrainians and to push the government for further anti-corruption reforms, I didn’t notice how middle-class income grew in Ukraine.”
“What a result!” he wrote, referring to Lutsenko’s words. “Now I’m thinking – who am I? This winter I could afford to spend two days at a country house. And in summer we spent Hr 15,000 for a vacation in Odesa Oblast. Am I a poor person?”
