Apartment for 3.65 million UAH, gifts worth millions and dissertation questions: what is known about the candidate for the Supreme Court of Justice Stanislav Neznayko

During an interview with the Ethics Council, Stanislav Neznaiko, a candidate for the High Council of Justice, explained the origin of funds for the purchase of real estate, the cost of cars, free use of housing, and the coincidences in his dissertation with the scientific work of the head. His declaration for 2025 indicated an apartment worth over UAH 3.6 million, two Audi cars in the family, and a cash gift of UAH 1.35 million.

On September 11, the Ethics Council interviewed Stanislav Neznaiko, who is applying for the position of member of the High Council of Justice under the quota of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

At the time of the interview, the candidate was temporarily acting as the head of the Department of Regime-Secret Work and Information Protection of the State Bureau of Investigation.

Million-dollar gifts: how the candidate explained the origin of the funds

One of the questions of the Ethics Council was the origin of 1 million 255 thousand UAH, which, according to Neznayk, his mother provided for the purchase of housing.

The candidate said that the family decided to take advantage of the preferential mortgage lending program, available to him thanks to his work at the State Bank of Ukraine. His mother offered to help financially with the down payment.

According to Neznayk, the funds were transferred under a notarized gift agreement.

He explained the origin of the money by the entrepreneurial activities of his parents, who have been engaged in business since 1991, in particular foreign trade, the production of metal-plastic structures and retail trade.

At the same time, the candidate noted that when registering the gift, he did not require additional documents from his mother that would confirm the origin of the funds.

According to the declaration for 2025, Neznaiko also declared a cash gift of UAH 1.35 million from Natalia Gayokha.

Apartment for UAH 3.65 million and two Audi cars

In May 2025, Stanislav Neznaiko became the owner of an apartment with an area of ​​86.7 sq. m. Its declared value at the time of purchase was UAH 3 million 646 thousand.

On the same day, the candidate issued a mortgage obligation for UAH 2.5 million.

The declaration also lists two cars:

Audi A4 2019 – belongs to Neznaiko, the declared value at the time of acquisition of ownership in 2023 was UAH 1.24 million.

Audi A6 2020 – belongs to his wife, the value at the time of acquisition of ownership in 2025 was UAH 1.26 million.

In addition, for 2025, the candidate declared almost UAH 1.97 million in wages to the State Revenue Service. His wife, Olga Yarysh, received over UAH 1 million in wages from Ukrhydroenergo.

The couple’s cash savings amounted to USD 20,000 for the candidate and USD 12,000 for his wife.

Free housing in Lviv for ten years

The Ethics Council also drew attention to Neznaiko’s use of an apartment in Lviv with an area of ​​80.6 sq. m on a free basis during 2015–2025.

The candidate explained that after the start of hostilities in Luhansk region, he moved to Lviv with his mother.

According to him, the family did not have the financial opportunity to purchase their own housing, and selling property and business in Luhansk was difficult due to the hostilities.

Neznaiko reported that the housing was provided by acquaintances of his mother. At the same time, according to him, he did not personally communicate with the apartment owners.

The candidate also noted that at that time he received about 4,200 UAH of salary, which was not enough to rent an apartment.

Coincidences in the dissertation: the candidate admitted the lack of proper references

A separate block of questions from the Ethics Council concerned academic integrity.

During the analysis of Neznaiko’s dissertation, the members of the council drew attention to textual similarities with the scientific work of his supervisor Movchan.

The remarks concerned fragments in which the changes were mainly limited to replacing individual words with synonyms, conjunctions, and reformulating sentences.

Neznaiko explained that the use of the general theoretical section of the work of the scientific supervisor was a recommendation of the supervisor himself. According to the candidate, this allowed him to focus on the scientific novelty of his own research.

At the same time, Neznaiko admitted that he should have properly indicated the reference to the scientific work used.

At the same time, he denied the presence of plagiarism and violation of academic integrity, emphasizing that the dissertation was checked before the defense.

Questions also arose about the cost of previous cars

Members of the Ethics Council were also interested in the declared cost of the Peugeot 3008 and Honda Accord cars.

In particular, the Peugeot 3008 of 2013 release in the declarations for 2016–2021 was indicated at a cost of about 48 thousand UAH.

Neznayko explained that the car was purchased by his future wife before the marriage. According to him, the vehicle needed significant repairs, including replacing the engine and gearbox.

Documents for some of the repair work, as the candidate noted, were not preserved.

Regarding the Honda Accord of 2016 release, he reported that the declared cost included customs clearance costs. According to the information provided in the material, the documents submitted by the candidate were found to be sufficient to support the stated value.

Does the candidate meet the integrity criteria

An interview with the Ethics Council is part of the assessment procedure