The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) commented on criticism from public activists and statements in the media "regarding the alleged superficial monitoring of the lifestyle of one of the high-ranking officials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)".
The officialʼs name is not specified, but the details suggest that it is the SBU General Ilya Vityuk, whom the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has declared suspicious of illegal enrichment and false declarations.
NAPC says that it acted within the law, having examined all available information and facts. The agency emphasizes that during lifestyle monitoring they cannot check for fictitious business activities, gain access to personal correspondence, or conduct searches. Such powers belong to law enforcement agencies.
The point is that the Agencyʼs specialists cannot conduct criminal investigations or operational-search work — this is the work of law enforcement officers. They are the ones who are engaged in searches, temporary seizure of things and documents, as well as covert investigative actions.
NAPC emphasized that such actions are carried out in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and usually by decision of the investigating judge.
At the same time, it is noted that the Agency can make requests and receive information from state registers, and data from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations is provided according to the rules approved jointly with the Prosecutor General. The status and powers of the NAPC employees who conduct inspections are determined by law.
The department says that having seen grounds for monitoring the officialʼs lifestyle, the Agency turned to the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (at that time SAPO was a structural unit of the Prosecutorʼs General Office).
The NAPC employees found out whether there were criminal cases against Vityuk or whether they were trying to recognize his assets as unfounded. They were told that there were no such facts.
NAPC summarized that the results of their monitoring of the lifestyle of officials and the results of the pre-trial investigation of law enforcement agencies may differ "due to the different scope of tools enshrined in their powers".
At the court hearing, where Vityuk was chosen as a preventive measure, the SAPO prosecutor Vitaliy Kravets stated that the NAPCʼs monitoring approach was superficial.
"We do not rule out that, given the position held by the suspect, there was influence on Agency officials," he said at the time.
In response, NAPC stated that there was “no external influence on its activities in all areas of work”. They say they have already sent an official request to obtain the specific facts that Kravets referred to in his speech.
What preceded
On April 4, 2024, journalist Yevhen Shulhat of the "Slidstvo.Info" project published an investigation into the fact that Vityukʼs wife purchased an apartment in a premium residential complex in the capital in December 2023.
The officialʼs declaration states that UAH 12.8 million were paid for the apartment, although its market value exceeds 20 million.
"Slidstvo.Info" stated that Vityukʼs official earnings would not be enough for this apartment. At the same time, his wife Yulia started doing business shortly after her husband was appointed to this position. SBU assured that her earnings were enough for the purchased real estate.
After that, the investigative journalism agency stated that representatives of the military enlistment office tried to serve a summons to their journalist Shulhat on the instructions of an SBU employee. In this way, the special services allegedly wanted to "punish" the investigator.
On April 9, 2024, the head of SBU Vasyl Malyuk suspended Vityuk from performing his official duties.
On May 1, 2024, President Zelensky dismissed Ilya Vityuk from the position of Head of the Department for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Field of Information Security of SBU.
In September of the same year, NAPC did not confirm Vityukʼs illegal enrichment. At the time, the Agency said that the value of the property owned by Vityuk and his family did not exceed the subsistence minimum by five hundred or more times.
On September 2, 2025, NABU declared Vityukʼs the suspicion of illegal enrichment and false declaration. SBU considers this to be revenge for the fact that the Security Service in July detained several employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau on suspicion of trading with the Russian Federation.
And on September 4, the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure for the former head of the Cybersecurity Department of SBU, Brigadier General Ilya Vityuk, in the form of bail of over UAH 9 million.
- Journalists from "Slidstvo. Info" published another investigation in 2024, claiming that on February 20, 2014, Vityuk filmed how fighters from the Berkut special police unit shot protesters on Maidan in Kyiv during the Revolution of Dignity.
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