Ukraine alert over Block bid reneger Emese Abigail Fajk

A member of Ukraine’s parliament has directed the country’s security agency to investigate alleged ‘international con woman’ Emese Abigail Fajk.

Emese Abigail Fajk made headlines in Australia in 2020 after she placed a $4m winning bid on a house on Nine Network’s The Block but failed to pay.

A member of Ukraine’s parliament has directed the country’s leading security agency to investigate alleged “international con woman” Emese Abigail Fajk following accusations of blackmail, counterespionage and financial crimes inside Ukraine’s Foreign Legion.

Ms Fajk – who made headlines in Australia in 2020 when she placed a $4m winning bid on a house on Nine Network’s The Block but failed to pay – has been accused of a raft of offences including blackmail, misappropriation of donations and stealing medical supplies valued up to $US2.5m ($3.6m)

In a confidential letter, viewed by The Australian, Ukrainian parliamentarian Maryan Zablotskyy directed the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, in early ­January to formally investigate the 30-year-old Hungarian ­national, who continues to serve as communications director and troop support for the 1st Battalion.

“I have been made aware from various sources that the abovementioned person (Fajk) has been identified as a risk and has organised the collection of funds for the needs of the International Legion and is currently engaged in collecting information that does not fall within the sphere of her competence,” Mr Zablotskyy wrote on January 6.

“I wish to draw your attention to the fact that there is highly concerning information about the specified person in various international media sources, stating the specified person has committed fraudulent acts in Australia and in other territories.

“I ask that you conduct an official investigation into Emese Fajk for co-operation with the aggressor state and her actions with the International Legion, which may threaten the sovereignty, territorial integrity and defence capability of Ukraine.”

The Block’s Jimmy and Tam with Emese Abigail Fajk, centre.

Mr Zablotskyy, a senior member of Ukraine’s Servant of the People Party, added he was concerned about Ms Fajk’s “knowledge of the location of key Ukrainian military positions”.

Earlier this month The Australian revealed two senior members of the Foreign Legion sent dossiers to Ukrainian Ground Forces, alleging Ms Fajk is a “counterintelligence threat” to the international force, and that she had repeatedly threatened to leak top-secret information if her position within the legion is challenged.

“In every aspect of her job, she has proven to be an abject failure. She does not have the confidence of the rank-and-file of the soldiers, the local or international press or even those who work directly with her,” one of the dossiers concluded.

“It is a nearly unanimously held belief within the Legion that she is a cancer on the organisation that must be excised lest she destroy the entire body of the organisation itself.”

The two dossiers, which were independently written without instruction from UGF command or the Foreign Legion, were subsequently forwarded to the US ­embassy in Kyiv.

The Australian does not suggest Ms Fajk is guilty of these allegations, only that they have been raised by several senior members of the Foreign Legion.

Ms Fajk, who previously lived in New York and the UK, relocated to Australia in 2019. While her LinkedIn profile states she has worked as a UN senior consultant since 2015, in December 2020 she told The Australian she was not an employee of the UN.

In July 2022, Nine’s A Current Affair program reported Ms Fajk supplied a fake ANZ banking receipt after she placed multiple bids on a property featured on The Block, ultimately winning the auction for $4.2m.

But Nine did not receive the funds from Ms Fajk and the ­contract of sale was voided by the network, which subsequently handed all its evidence to law enforcement authorities.