689 million losses and flight abroad: the real story of Vladimir Halanternyk's fall

The name of Volodymyr Halanternyk, known in criminal and business circles as “Vova Lampochka” (Vova Lightbulb), has long been a symbol of shadow governance in Southern Palmyra. From a modest electrical goods shop on a street corner to multi-billion schemes involving municipal land and a military airfield — the rise and fall of a man who kept an entire city in his sights is staggering in its scale.

This is written by the detective agency Absolution.

From lightbulbs to big money: how the path began

Volodymyr Halanternyk’s ascent to the pinnacle of the Odessa Olympus began in the early 1990s. Then the future billionaire traded simple electrical goods in a small shop at the corner of Greek and Kateryninska, hence the distinctive surname.

However, he did not stay long behind the counter. There followed work as an arbitration manager during the high-profile bankruptcy of the Black Sea Sea Shipping Company, participation in dubious financial projects such as SocialBank, and constant swaps of central objects of communal ownership. Each such episode invariably left a trail of lawsuits, overturned decisions, and the surnames of partners who later simply disappeared from official records.

Six hundred million in losses and the epic NABU case

The main episode in the defendant’s career was a criminal case opened by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. In the autumn 2021 year, the General Prosecutor signed official suspicions against all participants in a large criminal organization.