Chetverta Vlada says head of Rivne oblast tax service accused them of taking "dirty commissions"

The head of the Rivne Oblast Tax Service Serhiy Vinnichenko accused the media outlet Chetverta Vlada of corruption after a journalist tried to get his comment regarding the background of his parents’ real estate, Chetverta Vlada reports.

The journalists reviewed the official’s declarations for various years and contacted him by calling his personal phone number. The media outlet's journalist Valentyna Paniuk tried to get a comment on the real estate owned by Vinnichenko’s parents in newly constructed buildings near Kyiv.

Serhiy Vinnichenko declined to comment on the source of the money his parents paid for the apartments. Photo by the Rivne Oblast Tax Service

Chetverta Vlada reports that during their first telephone conversation, Serhiy Vinnichenko explained that he could not talk because he was at a meeting. During the second conversation, instead of answering the journalist’s question, he stressed that he was an official and that they should not have called his personal number, asked to contact him via an official query, and later unfoundedly accused the team of carrying out “various dirty commissions.”

“I have been told that you take various dirty commissions. [...] So I will not be paying any money. Write an official query, and I will officially provide an answer,” Serhiy Vinnichenko told the Chetverta Vlada journalist.

As IMI reported, Chetverta Vlada was targeted in a mudslinging campaign in December 2024 – May 2025, with various websites such as the local publication Rivnenski Novyny posting disparaging content about the team.

One of such articles triggered an investigation: in late 2024, the police opened a case under Article 171, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of reporting), but the case was closed on June 4, 2025.