«The procedure is lawful; I see no breaches,» Sienkevych on the privatisation of a flat by Judge Podzihun
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- Alisa MelikadamianContributing Editor, Reporter
Galina Podzigun, President of the Central District Court. Photo: NikVestiMykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych has stated that he sees no irregularities in the privatisation of the flat by Halyna Podzihun, President of the city’s Central District Court.
The mayor made these remarks in a comment to NikVesti.
It should be noted that Nikcenter journalists published an investigation entitled «Housing out of turn: How do judges and officials get their hands on official housing?», in which they claimed that Halyna Podzihun, the president of Mykolaiv’s Central District Court, privatised a flat in 2025 that she had received from the city council as official accommodation more than 15 years ago. Her younger daughter, Anastasiia Havrasiienko, became a co-owner of the flat alongside the judge.
He explained that the city provides official accommodation to representatives of various state bodies, including the National Police, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the courts. These are flats that revert to municipal ownership following the death of the previous occupants, provided there are no relatives who could inherit the property. Such properties may be offered to people on the housing register.
«Some continue to wait, saying: «We’re not interested in this; we’ll wait for other, better flats.» Others agree and receive them as service accommodation. Then, after some time — having lived there for 5, 10 or 15 years — they enquire about the possibility of converting the flats from service to private use. First, the authority itself—that is, the court, the Security Service of Ukraine or the police, which received the flat as service accommodation—submits a request regarding its reclassification, because the person who received it approaches them. The authority then contacts us and the commission makes a decision. After that, our housing department handles it,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.
At the same time, the mayor denied that such decisions could be made on the basis of personal arrangements.
«It’s hard to say that this is an investigation, because the information isn’t classified; it’s public — both Halyna’s declaration and the information on the housing register and so on. In other words, it is effectively impossible to claim that flats are being allocated to anyone, so to speak, through connections, because there is a commission. I do not see any breaches of the law here. As for discussing moral or ethical considerations, I have no authority to do so. The procedure is lawful and, in the context of decision-making, it does not depend on the mayor specifically or any other official, but is handled by a public commission,» stated the mayor.
It should be noted that the court itself did not explain how the judge had privatised her official flat, citing the fact that this information relates to her private life and is therefore not covered by the Law «On Access to Public Information».
