"NABU agent" Honchar in the case of the former head of the judicial administration - a Russian citizen wanted internationally

Former head of the State Judicial Administration (SJA) Oleksiy Salnikov said that the "agent" of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in his case was a Russian citizen Oleksiy Honchar, who was on the international wanted list. According to him, the "NABU agent" constantly called Russia and gave false testimony in court, writes UNN.

Salnikov was sentenced to three years in prison in a NABU criminal proceeding regarding abuse of influence. The case was built on the testimony of Oleksiy Honchar, who cooperated with NABU and provoked the former head of the SJA to commit a crime. Salnikov calls the case fabricated and completely trumped-up.

Fabricated NABU case

"I have always said that I do not admit guilt in committing any criminal offense. I believe that the case against me is completely fabricated 'blackly,'" Salnikov said in an interview with the "Sudovo-yurydychna hazeta" publication.

According to him, Honchar transferred funds to him as part of a fundraiser for a car for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "They were indeed transferred, but for the purchase of a car for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was confirmed by witnesses interrogated in court, including Honchar's driver and his wife, although Honchar denied everything and did not recognize his driver. In short, Honchar approached me and said that he had decided to mobilize into the Armed Forces of Ukraine and needed a car. He asked me to help with this and emphasized that if I 'donated' it (transferred it to a military unit), the car would be assigned to him, and he would be able to use it and would at least be a driver, which would be better for him," Salnikov said.

After he realized that there was no such military unit, Salnikov returned the funds to Honchar. The latter, as established during the judicial investigation, stole them, but the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office "did not notice" this.

According to Salnikov, NABU detectives tried to call this transfer of funds a bribe for Supreme Court judges. However, in court, they could not prove that Salnikov wanted to bribe judges or steal funds.

"After the search at my place, NABU broadcast videos to everyone about me wanting to bribe Supreme Court judges. Later, I was accused of wanting to steal these funds. Two years later, the High Anti-Corruption Court established that neither one crime nor the other existed, but to save NABU and SAP, it invented a new non-existent crime and convicted me of abuse of influence. However, they never established on whom and in what way I was going to influence," Salnikov said.

According to him, during the judicial investigation, it was established that he did not contact anyone and did not resolve anything.

"The materials of the NSPD (covert investigative actions – ed.) contain recordings where I repeatedly tell agent Honchar that I cannot help him in any way, but the court refused to examine them, as well as to satisfy 99% of the motions filed by the defense, which suggests that in order to save the image of anti-corruption bodies, they are capable of anything," Salnikov said.

According to him, even the "NABU agent" himself stated in court that the former head of the SJA was not going to resolve any cases and does not see any corrupt acts in Salnikov's actions.

In addition, as the former head of the SJA notes, the defense established that Honchar's interrogation protocols in the case are fake, as he was in another place at that time, which was established by his phone's billing. But, according to Salnikov, "even here the court found an excuse for the most honest pre-trial investigation body."

Who is "NABU agent" Honchar

"When we started hearing the case in the High Anti-Corruption Court, we learned that he (Oleksiy Honchar – ed.) is a citizen of the Russian Federation and is on the international wanted list. He tried to create the image of a military man, although he was not one at that time," Salnikov said.

According to him, Honchar obtained Ukrainian citizenship through court using forged documents.

"He served a sentence for large-scale fraud in Russia. After obtaining Ukrainian citizenship, Honchar repeatedly changed his surnames (Honchar, Shevchenko, Karpenko). He was even Torop and Topor. At the time of the crime, he was under round-the-clock house arrest with an electronic monitoring device – an electronic bracelet," the former head of the SJA said.

Despite the preventive measure, Honchar freely moved around Kyiv and Kyiv region, which, according to Salnikov, is confirmed by the phone billing of the "NABU agent" and his meetings recorded by the defense. The prosecutor explained this in court by cooperation with law enforcement.

"We collected evidence that he constantly calls the territory of the Russian Federation. Also, in my opinion, he is 'on the payroll' of NABU, as he is an applicant in other NABU criminal proceedings," the former head of the SJA said.

Salnikov noted that during communication with Honchar, the "NABU agent" constantly tried to incite him to unlawful actions, for example, to help him with "resolving" various issues. However, as the former head of the SJA claims, there is no reaction to this from the anti-corruption bodies under whose control Honchar acted.

"The prosecutor himself admitted in the process that Honchar constantly pressured me. Honchar stated in court that he somehow influenced my appointment, but how, I do not understand. However, he constantly blackmailed me, indicating that I owed him something. In my opinion, he played the role of an agent provocateur, whose main goal was to destabilize the Supreme Court and, most importantly, to discredit administrative justice and the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, and to take it under control," Salnikov emphasized.

In addition, according to him, representatives of the company in whose interests Honchar allegedly acted were shocked when they learned from the media how their case was used to fabricate a criminal proceeding, as they did not ask Honchar to resolve anything and, moreover, were not aware of his acquaintance with Salnikov.

Recall

In August 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court sentenced the former head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, Oleksiy Salnikov, to 3 years in prison for abuse of influence.

On February 14, 2024, the SAP prosecutor, based on the materials of the NABU pre-trial investigation, sent an indictment to the court against the former head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, who was exposed for inciting to provide undue advantage to Supreme Court judges for making a decision in favor of a commercial enterprise and for seizing other people's property by deception.

According to the investigation, in March 2023, the head of the SJA of Ukraine received 7.5 thousand US dollars from a person. He was supposed to keep part of these funds, and 5 thousand US dollars were allegedly to be transferred to judges for making a decision in the interests of a commercial enterprise.