Ukrainian police colonel suspected of bribery lives in luxury home bought by retired father, investigation finds
A senior Ukrainian police officer suspected of taking bribes to protect fraudulent call centers lives in a luxury house purchased by his retired father, whose extensive property holdings and financial resources have raised questions in an investigation by Hromadske.
Police Colonel Volodymyr Tsenov, 40, was detained on November 4 as part of an anti-corruption investigation known as Operation Carthage. On November 5, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) announced that five people had been formally notified of suspicion in connection with the alleged criminal organization.
Tsenov, who served as first deputy head of the National Police's Strategic Investigations Department, is suspected of participating in a criminal organization and accepting illicit payments.
According to investigators, Tsenov allegedly received money between January and July 2026 to ensure police did not interfere with particular scam call centers. He is also suspected of helping arrange the return of equipment seized during a police search.
NABU and SAPO say the wider criminal organization facilitated fraudulent call centers targeting Ukrainians and foreigners, drug trafficking, counterfeit cigarette production and currency forgery. Investigators also allege that its members organized assaults, abductions and other acts of violence.
A court ordered Tsenov detained on November 5, setting bail at 15 million hryvnias. The bail was paid the following day, with his father reportedly contributing 13 million hryvnias.
A family property portfolio
Hromadske began examining the family's property holdings before Tsenov became a criminal suspect.
The investigation identified three houses, three apartments and approximately four hectares (10 acres) of land associated with the Tsenov family.
His father, 68-year-old Mykola Tsenov, is a retired senior Interior Ministry official. His older brother, Dmytro Tsenov, previously headed the National Police in Kyiv Oblast.
In October 2022, Mykola Tsenov purchased a 240-square-meter (2,580-square-foot) house near Kyiv for approximately $200,000. The property includes five rooms, four bathrooms, a gym and a swimming pool.
Architect Oleh Hrechukh, who reviewed the property for Hromadske, estimated that its market value at the time of purchase was at least $400,000 and potentially as high as $600,000.
Three and a half months after the purchase, Volodymyr Tsenov and his family moved into the house.
His father subsequently bought an adjacent plot for approximately $40,000, where another building was constructed. The architect estimated the combined property complex could now be worth $750,000–$800,000.
The family's other holdings include a 571-square-meter (6,146-square-foot) house near Kyiv, which Volodymyr Tsenov said had been built over many years using savings accumulated by several generations.
Questions about the money
In written responses to Hromadske, Volodymyr Tsenov attributed his parents' wealth to salaries, pensions, business activities, property sales and long-term savings.
However, Hromadske found no property sales by his parents in electronic registers covering more than a decade. His father registered as a sole proprietor only in October 2023, after purchasing the house and adjacent land.
Tsenov also said his father had worked as head of security at an agricultural trading company after retiring from the Interior Ministry.
The company's director reported average monthly earnings of approximately 77,000 hryvnias in 2020. Even assuming Mykola Tsenov earned the same amount, purchasing the house at its declared price would have required almost eight years of that salary, before living expenses or taxes.
Roman Verbovskyi, a lawyer with Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Center, told Hromadske that law enforcement authorities should examine the origin of the funds and determine whether there are grounds for an illicit enrichment investigation.
After his son's arrest, Mykola Tsenov told Hromadske that he had worked for other employers after retirement but declined to identify them. Asked about the 13 million hryvnias he reportedly contributed toward bail, he again cited years of work and savings.
The questions surrounding the family's wealth are separate from the criminal allegations against Volodymyr Tsenov. Neither the property purchases nor the origin of the bail money has been established as criminal wrongdoing.
Based on an investigation by Hromadske's Yaroslava Volvach.
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