What the head of the court administration, Alina Zborshchik, is hiding

Employment at one of Ukraine's key courts, but the family business is in the self-proclaimed "LNR", and close relatives hold Russian passports. 

No major assets in the declaration and a salary of 27,000 hryvnia, yet the cars, luxury apartments, and houses have not disappeared. This is what the career of Alina Zborshchik, head of the administration of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, looks like, whose story became the subject of a journalistic investigation by hromadske.

Townhouse and personal driver

Morning in the village of Osheshchyna, near Kyiv. A black Toyota Camry pulls up to a modern townhouse. A woman comes out of the house — Alina Zborshchik. The driver opens the door, and the car takes her to work at the Shevchenkivskyi Court. Thus begins an ordinary day for the head of the court administration.

Although this position is not among the highest in the judicial system, it grants significant powers. Zborshchik is responsible for ensuring the court's operations, including the organisation of proceedings and the functioning of the automatic case allocation system, which could potentially influence the assignment of cases to judges.

In 2021, Zborshchik became a public figure by raising the issue of low salaries for administration staff. She complained about mass dismissals due to salaries of 6,500–12,000 hryvnia. However, it was not this that drew attention to her person, but her personal property and connections.

Declaration secrets

Officially, Alina Zborshchik lives in an apartment on Zhmachenko Street in Kyiv. In 2018, her mother, Alla Zborshchik, purchased this 93-square-metre property for 767,000 hryvnia. This price was several times lower than the market rate, which may indicate possible tax evasion.

Zborshchik's declaration lists no other property. However, journalists found out that she uses a Toyota Camry registered to Yevhenia Zhirnova, the owner of a company engaged in grain trading. The house in Osheshchyna where Zborshchik lives is also not listed in her documents. The two land plots on which it is built belong to Alla Zborshchik. The plots were purchased in 2020 for 135,000 hryvnia.

In addition, the official's mother owns two more apartments in Kyiv. One is located in the "Vozdukhoflotskyi Kvartal" residential complex and was purchased in 2019 for 618,000 hryvnia, which is also significantly below market value. The other — in the "Smart Plaza" residential complex — was bought in 2018 for 795,000 hryvnia.

Family business in the "LNR"

Even more questions are raised by the source of the Zborshchik family's income. Alla Zborshchik is the owner of the company "Grand", registered in Luhansk. After the occupation of the city in 2014, the enterprise did not declare income in Ukraine. However, in 2023, the company was officially registered in the Russian registry and began paying taxes to the Russian budget. In 2023 alone, "Grand" paid approximately 600,000 rubles in taxes and almost another million to the Russian pension fund.

It is also noteworthy that Alla Zborshchik received a Russian passport in 2023. Thus, the mother of the head of the administration of a Ukrainian court became a citizen of the aggressor state and legalised her business in the occupied territory.

Gifts and income

In recent years, Alla Zborshchik has been actively "helping" her daughter. In 2023, she gifted Alina 56,604 hryvnia, and in 2022 — 205,821 hryvnia. Also, in 2022, Zborshchik received a gift of 54,000 hryvnia from Serhiy Lypchenko, the director of the company "Grand". These funds have been declared, but their origin raises doubts.

Corruption schemes or family help?

The story of Alina Zborshchik leaves more questions than answers. How can an official with an official salary of 27,000 hryvnia afford to live in luxury conditions? Where does her mother get the funds to buy expensive real estate? Why is the family business, operating in occupied territories, registered in Russia?