“Dropped” from a case worth 1,5 billion: how Yuriy Holyk was left only as a witness in the NABU investigation

“Dropped” from a case worth 1,5 billion: how Yuriy Holyk was left only as a witness in the NABU investigation

In 2022, at the height of the full-scale war, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration transferred 2,31 billion UAH to contractors, of which 1,5 billion went to a single company, Budinvest Engineering. Its co-owners were named as Yana Khlanta, a fitness trainer and partner of Governor Reznychenko, and Pavlo Chukhno, a manager for the Dubynskyi brothers, who are wanted by the FBI.

According to NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), the capital repairs were formalized as “operational maintenance” to receive wartime priority funding and avoid expert review and technical supervision. Examinations found inflated material costs by more than 392 million UAH; part of the funds went to firms connected to the accused.

In August this year, SAP sent an indictment to the court against four people — Reznychenko, his deputy, the head of the roads department, and the head of the contractor.

Holyk, a long-time adviser and partner of Reznychenko, who was subject to NABU searches in December 2022 and June 2023, is not in the indictment.

Formally, he is a witness.

Prosecutors already pointed to the connections between Reznychenko and Holyk at the stage of deciding on preventive measures. Media reported that Holyk attended key meetings at the Office of the President and was connected not only with the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, Valentyn Reznychenko, but also with his girlfriend, Dnipro fitness trainer Yana Khlanta, on whom half of Budinvest Engineering is registered.

They traveled abroad together in 2019–2022: Holyk, Reznychenko, and Khlanta left Ukraine together.

The question for NABU and SAP is simple: have materials about his role been allocated to a separate proceeding and at what stage is it.