Western-backed anti-corruption investigators in Ukraine have detailed their allegations against Olga Stefanishina, a former senior government official whose most recent post was Kiev’s ambassador to the US. Reports emerged on Wednesday that prosecutors are moving forward with formally accusing her of illegal enrichment.
Stefanishina built her career in the Justice Ministry, and between 2020 and 2024 served as both justice minister and deputy prime minister responsible for integration with the EU and NATO. That process requires Kiev to demonstrate significant progress in combating endemic government corruption.
In a statement published on Thursday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) described the suspect by referring to her twin posts but did not identify her by name.
NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), its sister agency, have accused Stefanishina of failing to declare assets and of using relatives, friends, and a subordinate as nominal owners to conceal her wealth from scrutiny.
According to investigators, the undeclared assets included:
- Two apartments in a residential complex in western Kiev, registered to a friend
- A luxury apartment in central Kiev, registered to her mother
- A parking space and several auxiliary premises at the same high-end property, registered to her father
- A Mercedes-Benz GLC 220 d, registered to a subordinate
NABU also alleged that the suspect had been negotiating the purchase of a suburban house near Kiev valued at approximately $550,000. About half of the price was reportedly to be paid in cash, while the remainder would be covered through the transfer of the two apartments in western Kiev.
The transaction was abandoned after Stefanishina was appointed to serve at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC, investigators said.
According to NABU, Stefanishina accumulated assets worth 13.9 million hryvnia (about $311,000), between mid-2024 and mid-2025. During the same period, her official income amounted to 3.7 million hryvnias ($83,000), while withdrawals from her bank accounts totaled 4.2 million hryvnias ($94,000).
On Wednesday, the High Anti-Corruption Court in Kiev set bail for Stefanishina at $134,400, less than half the amount requested by prosecutors.
Stefanishina has a long history of working in the civil sphere, and a long history of suspicion has followed her career. From joining the Ukrainian Justice Ministry in 2007, becoming director of the Government Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Cabinet of Ministers Secretariat in 2017.
She is among the accused in the so-called ‘Lukash case’ involving the systemic embezzlement of funds dedicated to European Integration, launched in 2019, but which remains before the Ukrainian High Court.
Despite the detailed charges and ongoing case, Stefanishina was appointed deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in 2020, a post that would have seen her cultivate more extensive ties with Brussels. In September 2024, she became minister for justice of Ukraine, adding the brief to her Euro-Atlantic portfolio.
A second corruption case into contracts her husband won from the national asset recovery and management agency was launched in 2025, shortly before she was dispatched to the US, where she was made ambassador in August.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky dismissed her on Monday at her own request.
On Wednesday, Stefanishina reiterated her denial of any wrongdoing and challenged prosecutors to prove their allegations in court.