Million-dollar salaries, hundreds of thousands in cash, new real estate and cars: what did the heads of Mykolaiv courts declare?

Income of Mykolaiv court presidents in 2024. Infographic by NikVesti.

The heads of courts in Mykolaiv have published their declarations for 2024. The salaries of some of them increased by more than 200-300 thousand hryvnias over the year.

The relevant information is published in the Unified State Register of Declarations of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, NikVesti.

Central District Court: Halyna Podzihun

Head of the Central District Court Halyna Podzihun

Nothing has changed in the declaration of the head of the Central Court of Mykolaiv, Halyna Podzihun, compared to 2023, except for her salary, which increased by 381 thousand hryvnias. Last year, she received just over 2 million hryvnias.

She said that since 2010, the family has been entitled to use a 118-square-metre apartment in Mykolaiv, which is owned by the city council.

Galina Podzihun owns an unfinished house in Mykolaiv with an area of 180.9 square metres, which she and her husband, judge of the Zavodskyi District Court Vadym Havrasiienko, share. The woman's declaration also includes a 21-square-metre garage.

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In November 2022, the judge purchased a 93-square-metre apartment in Mykolaiv. He also bought a land plot of 18,233 square metres in the village of Yablunivka in Cherkasy region worth 37 thousand hryvnias. He has owned a 600 square metre plot of land in Mykolaiv since 2003. In Cherkasy region, he also owns a jointly owned apartment of 50.6 square metres.

The couple has $204,600 in cash. They also have over 200,000 hryvinas in their bank accounts.

Zavodsky District Court: Serhii Shcherbyna

Chairman of Zavodskyi District Court Serhii Shcherbyna

The declaration of the head of Zavodskyi District Court remained almost unchanged. Just like last year, Serhii Shcherbyna indicated that he does not own any real estate. Instead, his wife Svitlana owns an apartment in Mykolaiv with an area of 206.8 square metres worth 455,000 hryvnias and an apartment in Kyiv with an area of 47.2 square metres worth 1.1 million hryvnias. His wife rents another apartment in Odesa with their children.

Since 2021, Shcherbyna has been driving a Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, and his wife has been driving a Range Rover Sport.

And in 2024, the judge's father Viktor Shcherbyna bought a Volkswagen ID.4 Crozz made in 2023, which is also used by Serhii Shcherbyna. Although the official did not indicate the cost of the car in his declaration, the average price of such a car on the Ukrainian market is up to $35,000.

Last year, the salary of the head of the court also increased — he received 1,582,204 hryvnias, which is 262,000 hryvnias more than in 2023. He also declared 24,878 hryvnias of salary at the Law Academy in Odesa. The official has 3.3 million hryvnias in cash, and another 36,798 hryvnias is kept in his bank account.

Korabelnyi District Court: Yana Cherniavska

Head of Korabelnyi District Court Yana Cherniavska

The head of the Korabelnyi District Court, Yana Cherniavska, has only an apartment in Mykolaiv, which the couple has owned since 2007.

In 2024, the official bought a brand new Toyota Yaris for 1 million 172 thousand 325 hryvnias.

On 24 February 2022, Cherniavska's husband's father bought a 2021 Toyota RAV4, which cost 1.3 million hryvnias at the time.

In 2024, Yana Cherniavska received 1.4 million hryvnais in income, a gift of 50 thousand hryvnias from her husband Serhii Koval, and 320 thousand hryvnias in income from the alienation of movable property.

Her husband, a judge of the Mykolaiv Commercial Court, received almost 1.5 million hryvnias and 53 thousand hryvnias in insurance payments. The couple keep $7,000 in cash, and another 22,000 hryvnias in bank accounts.

On 19 November 2024, the official took out a loan of 668,104 hryvnias. On 31 December, the couple took out four loans in the amount of 853,870 hryvnias and another for $72,500.

Inhulskyi district court: Vyacheslav Kokoriev

Viacheslav Kokoriev, the newly appointed head of the Inhulskyi district court

Viacheslav Kokoriev became the head of the Inhulskyi (formerly Leninskyi, — note) court in April 2025. The judge was in charge of the case of a severe brain injury to a well-known boxing coach, Serhii Korchynskyi. Last year, he sentenced the defendant and released Karen Sargsyan, commuting his sentence.

In his declaration for 2024, the judge listed a 78-square-metre house in the village of Chornobaivka in Kherson Oblast, where he comes from. At the time of purchase in 2003, the house cost 10,600 hryvnias. He also owns two land plots in Chornobaivka.

Since 1996, the judge's family has owned an apartment in Kherson with an area of 52.4 square metres. In 2023, his wife Olha bought an apartment in Mykolaiv worth 706,030 hryvnias, and in 2024, her aunt bought an apartment in Mykolaiv for 987,000 hryvnias. According to the declaration, this property is used by the entire Kokoriev family.

«The owner of the apartment is the aunt of the declarant's wife, who temporarily lives in an apartment owned by the declarant's wife», the declaration states.

Last year, the judge himself bought three land plots in the village of Tsentralne in the Shevchenkove community for a total of almost 159,000 hryvnias.

Kokoriev owns two cars: a Nissan Leaf, which he bought in 2016, and a Chevrolet Bolt EV, which he bought in 2020.

Last year, he received 1.2 million hryvnias in salary as a judge of the Inhulskyi court. He also received an inheritance from Halyna Petrusha in the amount of 158,866 hryvnias and reported income from renting property worth 35,259 hryvnias.

It is worth noting that both the judge's mother and his wife received funds as support for IDPs. For example, the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration awarded Olha Kokorieva a little over 12,000 hryvnias. And her mother received assistance from the Danish Refugee Council — 22 thousand hryvnias.

It is worth reminding that Ihor Livinskyi, the head of the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal, received more than 11,000 hryvnias in social benefits from the city council's Department of Labour and Social Protection.