Ukrainian Official Says He’s Exempt From Zelensky Wartime Order to Return Home; Remote Works Out of Miami Beachfront Condo - RFE/RL Report
Central Election Commission member Iurii Buhlak
The Wave condominium complex in Hollywood FL where Iurii Buhlak is said to be living and working remotely
It seems that wartime, for some Ukrainian public servants, ‘distance working’ has taken on a whole new meaning.
As the Ukrainian media widens its coverage beyond the war, more officials are being found out of position outside of the country during wartime - and taking advantage of public assistance when it seems they shouldn’t be.
Iurii Buhlak- has been a member of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission since 2019 and a former Member of Parliament under the party of former president Petro Poroshenko.
According to RFE/RL’s award-winning investigative program, Schemes (Схеми: корупція в деталях), since 12 days before the start of the war Buhlak has been on vacation and then based out of Miami. There, he’s been living in what appears to be less than austere conditions. From February, 2022 to March, 2023, according to Schemes, he had been receiving his regular government salary - AND - assistance for solving social and household issues.” Total bill so far to Ukrainian taxpayers in 2022 alone: over US$40,000.
Schemes took up Buhlak’s challenge to find him and so they did - in Hollywood Florida, just north of Miami, in a pricey oceanfront condominium building. Their sleuthing was helped by posts by his wife, Tatiana Rtyshchyna, in the social media group ‘Living in Miami Russian Speakers’ (Живем в Майами, говорим по-русски).
In comment to Schemes investigative journalists, Buhlak said that he had "personal circumstances," and in his opinion, he did not violate Ukrainian laws because he left before the invasion, and with its beginning, the CEC switched to remote work. On February 14, two days after Buhlak’s departure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on all representatives of the state to return to Ukraine within 24 hours. But according to Schemes, Buhlak said the proclamation to return home did not concern him because he’s not an MP or an oligarch (though the president’s proclamation applied to though the president said "to all the state's representatives" (усі представники держави).
Starting in March, 2023 Buhlak declared himself to be on paternity leave, Schemes said, but he still retains his official position. "I worked, I work, and I will work for my country,” Schemes quoted him as saying ("Я працював, працюю, і буду працювати на свою державу").
Buhlak and his wife have close ties to Poroshenko, both have been employed by his confectionery company, Roshen.
The CEC, according to Schemes, says Buhlak has been attending online meetings throughout his absence, the last being in February 2023 for what must have been a taxing 13 minutes. CEC appointments are for seven years, which in theory could keep Buhlak in office until 2026 - and possibly into the next election.
Why Buhlak required extra government assistance is a legitimate question (Kyiv says it’s chalking up a $5-billion-a-month budget deficit).
Schemes found several properties registered under the couple’s names in Ukraine.
He’s also declared two Land Rovers and a cache of expensive watches as well as over a million dollars in cash, the show said - citing his last publicly available declaration in 2018.
Some condos at The Wave, where Buhlak and his wife are said to reside, recently sold north of $300,000 and monthly rentals for larger units are in the $3500 range.
Several foreign-funded NGOs and embassies - including the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine - work closely with the CEC, especially during election time. I’d say this is a case which compels them to demand much fuller responses than the commission has provided thus far (they told Schemes Buhlak is not guilty of wrongdoing). Odd that most of my friends who work for the Ukrainian government - even those ranked at much lower levels than Buhlak - have abided by Zelensky’s call and returned home, but the CEC member hasn’t.
This is also a case which suggests a ‘rules for thee, but not for me’ attitude. And if such alleged abuses are not addressed by the government it’ll only hinder the return of those who fled and want to return to a corruption-free environment.
In recent months there have been several reports of officials concealing their absence from Ukraine or appearing to have accumulated ill-gotten wealth. Last week, disgraced parliamentarian Andrii Kholodov was sacked from the ruling Servant of the People party and then resigned from parliament following a Schemes report that he had been away without leave since January, allegedly conducting family business operations and maintaining residences in Cyprus and Austria.
On July 27, another ruling party MP, Yuriy Aristov, resigned his seat after a scandal. He was charged with providing false information in official documents, which helped him leave Ukraine for a vacation in the Maldives, reported a Ukrainian media outlet.
Also recently, the authorities detained the Odesa 'military commissar' – the head of the local recruitment center - after journalists reported on his absence, a villa in Spain and other questionable assets. (Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr confirmed more than 30 people face criminal charges, with all regional officials in charge of military conscription removed).
Read the full RFE/RL Schemes report in Ukrainian here