NABU’s complainant in case of former DSA head Salnikov detained on suspicion of fake draft deferment scheme

NABU’s complainant in case of former DSA head Salnikov detained on suspicion of fake draft deferment scheme

Last week the media leaked information about the detention of Oleksiy Honchar, who became the complainant in the NABU case against the former head of the State Judicial Administration, Salnikov — he claimed that in 2023 he was induced by him to give a bribe to a judge of the Supreme Court. Based on his testimony, Salnikov is now serving 3 years in prison.

This was reported by Sudovyy Reporter.

Now Honchar himself, as a suspect, is being held in custody at the Vinnytsia Penal Institution. No bail was set for him.

In the past Honchar was a citizen of the Russian Federation and was repeatedly prosecuted in Russia. After moving to Ukraine, he changed his surname three times and is today accused by Ukrainian law enforcement of land fraud and fraudulent appropriation of funds.

As it turned out, in 2017–2021 Honchar had quite close contact with the then-future Supreme Court head Vsevolod Knyazev. At the courtroom podium, Knyazev testified that they vacationed together with their families and that Honchar presented himself as a successful businessman, lived in a luxury house in Koncha-Zaspa, and boasted of connections in law enforcement agencies.

Later it emerged that Honchar had numerous debts, the house outside Kyiv was rented by his wife, and later they even lacked funds to pay the rent.

When Honchar ran into serious problems with the police and the Security Service of Ukraine, he began cooperating with NABU to expose Salnikov and also mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He attended court hearings in camouflage uniform and said he had begun to view corruption differently.

In September of 2025 Honchar told the bihus.info project in an interview that he was the “cashier” for former Supreme Court head Vsevolod Knyazev and spoke of “joint earnings.” He described several episodes of alleged unlawful payments to Knyazev for Supreme Court decisions — the case of the Illichivsk port, allegedly resolved for $200 thousand, and how land under Andriy Klyuyev’s estate in Koncha-Zaspa was left for him for $400 thousand. But officially these facts were not charged against the former Supreme Court head, and Honchar did not receive witness status in Knyazev’s case. “I wanted to participate there. But it didn’t work out,” Honchar explained during the interview.

As it turned out, the third suspicion against Honchar concerns that for payment he fictitiously employed men at Stetman LLC for the purpose of illegally securing their exemption from conscription during mobilization.

In 14 August 2026 Honchar was detained by officers of the SBU Department in Vinnytsia region. He was handed a suspicion of obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during a special period, by prior conspiracy of a group of persons.

As seen from court rulings, the criminal proceeding was registered as early as 12 September 2025. And three days later an interview with Honchar was published on bihus.info about “how judges sold decisions.”

In 22 April 2026 the first suspicion was reported in the fake deferment case. According to case materials, the figure sought conscription-eligible men who intended and wished to evade mobilization and offered fictitious employment and deferment for 8 thousand dollars. The man paid half the amount and received an electronic version of an order hiring him at Stetman LLC — as a technician in the unmanned aerial systems testing department.

In 22 April 2026, after handing over the remaining money, the suspect was detained. Over three and a half months law enforcement reached other accomplices, including Honchar.

It is believed that Honchar had contacts and influence over a person not identified by the investigation connected to Stetman LLC’s activities, to whom he handed documents of conscription-eligible persons collected by the man detained first in April this year.

According to the investigation, as a result of the actions of the four suspects, including Honchar, 49 conscription-eligible persons were fictitiously employed at Stetman LLC

When his preventive measure was being chosen, Honchar referred to being a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a combatant, supporting four minor children, and having illnesses and wounds received in defense of the Fatherland. His lawyer tried to persuade the judge to allow house arrest or set minimal bail.

Currently information indicating Stetman LLC as an enterprise of the defense-industrial complex in public registers for the martial law period is hidden. According to the latest data, the company’s beneficiary was Ukrainian citizen Kateryna Dyachenko

It is known that the enterprise received the status of critically important for the economy in the defense-industrial complex sector in 2024.