An apartment in an elite residential complex, a new BMW 5 Series, cash worth over a million dollars – these are the assets found in the possession of Lilia Chigrikova, head of the State Environmental Inspection Department of the Dnipro region. The woman is suspected of illegal enrichment. But could she have "earned" such a fortune without her boss's knowledge?
The media outlet Nashy Groshi, citing Hromadske Kontrol, is convinced that she could not. The family of Dmytro Shybko, Chigrikova's boss, is even wealthier than the detained official. Nevertheless, the official continues to work in the agency.
Discrepancy between income and standard of living
Lilia Chigrikova's salary was less than 30,000 hryvnia per month, and in her 2024 declaration, she listed a modest 45 square meter apartment and savings of 2,500 euros.
However, during a search, law enforcement officers found that the eco-inspector lived somewhat more comfortably—in an apartment of over 100 square meters in an elite residential complex. Her savings also turned out to be underestimated. In the woman's apartment, they found and seized $880,000 and €210,000, as well as expensive watches, jewelry, and gold coins.
Photo: State Bureau of Investigation
Family business
The profession of environmental inspector clearly seemed promising to Lilia Chigrikova's son, Mykyta. At first, he worked with his mother, and in 2022, by decision of the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, he became acting director of the Profdezinfektsiya municipal enterprise.
In recent years, he has systematically ignored the requirements of the law and has not submitted any declarations. However, it has become known that in 2023, Mykyta Chygrikov acquired his own property in Dnipro — an apartment in the city center worth UAH 1.6 million. According to media estimates, it is now worth about $59,000 or 2.4 million hryvnia.
Is his boss unaware?
The media reasonably assume that corruption on such a scale could not have gone unnoticed by Chigrikov's immediate superior, Dmitry Shibko, deputy head of the environmental inspection of the Dnipro district.
In 2019, he was already close to imprisonment when he was detained for bribery. However, this did not prevent Shybko from continuing to work and increase his family's wealth, sometimes in very questionable ways.
The official's family turned out to be extremely wealthy. "Our Money" cites several examples of the acquisition of elite property:
- A “cheap” house of 201 sq. m was purchased by Dmytro Shybko’s mother. The pensioner spent “only” 1.2 million UAH on the real estate. However, the market price of similar houses is 3–8 times higher;
- An apartment in Kyiv’s Pechersk district as a gift. The caring mother gifted her son-official 72 sq. m of living space. The woman’s “valuation” of the property – 200,000 UAH; the real value – about $150,000;
- A son’s apartment for $500,000. Roman Shybko, at the age of 20, managed to purchase an apartment in the center of Kyiv. These are 246 sq. m apartments on B. Khmelnytsky Street. Half a million dollars is the approximate price for such real estate in 2013. Later, the apartment was gifted by the eco-official’s son to his sister;
- The official’s wife, Yuliya Shybko, also has no housing problems. She owns her own cottage of 320 sq. m on the bank of the Samara River, as well as a 123 sq. m apartment in the elite “Delmar” residential complex.
About the detention of an official in Dnipro, EcoPolic reported earlier.
