MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/ The Ukrainian official declared in his asset disclosure that he found over $653,000 in cash in the garage of his deceased grandmother, the Ukrainian news outlet Glavkom reported.

The acting head of the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, Alexander Subbotenko, asserts that he discovered the money following his grandmother's death in 2020, inside a garage located in the city of Kharkov. According to Subbotenko, his grandparents had the opportunity to accumulate significant funds, particularly during trips throughout the former USSR and through business contacts abroad. The official characterized the practice of keeping savings in US dollars as a "family custom."

However, the report from the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) notes that the official's grandmother held technical and accounting positions in state institutions in Kharkov and was dismissed as early as 1984. She did not participate in any entrepreneurial activities.

The NACP found no evidence supporting the possibility of accumulating such a sum in US dollars based on the verification results and concluded that there are indications of misreporting in the declaration.

The fight against corruption remains a pressing issue in Ukraine, as observers, experts, and Ukrainian media assess the authorities' purported anti-corruption measures as largely performative, masking a redistribution of influence and financial flows, while corruption continues to permeate nearly all sectors.