Oleksandr Hovorushchak, the head of a department at the State Bureau of Investigation, refused to answer questions about his property during a phone call with a Slidstvo.Info journalist. Instead, he accused the agency of extortion. “I will not pay you money for not publishing this piece,” Hovorushchak said. “Stop offering me to buy your report. Have a good day. Goodbye.”
This exchange was part of an investigation by Slidstvo.Info into the property holdings of Hovorushchak and his family. The video has English subtitles.
During the investigation, which uncovered assets worth 35 million hryvnias ($848,904), journalists initially tried to contact Hovorushchak through the SBI. He ignored their questions and advised them to refer to his declaration.
Later, when journalists called Hovorushchak again to ask why the value of his house in his declaration was three times less than the market value, he responded: “You have called me four times already and approached me. I am not interested. I will not pay you money for not publishing this piece. Everything is indicated in my declaration, everything corresponds to reality. Read the declaration. If something raises doubts, contact the relevant, competent authorities. But I will not pay you money for not publishing it. Stop offering me to buy your report. Have a good day. Goodbye.”
It is worth noting that the Slidstvo.Info journalist called Hovorushchak only once, after which he blocked her phone number. The only thing the journalist offered Hovorushchak was to answer questions about the expensive property his family had acquired since he took office at the SBI.
The investigation revealed that Hovorushchak’s wife, Kateryna Hovorushchak, became the owner of a 165-square-meter house and a land plot in a Kyiv suburb in 2023. The declared value of the property is nearly 4.5 million hryvnias ($109,217), while the market value of the house and land plot could reach 14.5 million hryvnias ($351,921), according to the journalistic investigation.
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the SBI spouses have recently been living
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the SBI spouses have recently been living
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- The house in the Kyiv suburbs where the SBI spouses have recently been living
Additionally, Kateryna Hovorushchak’s parents, Liudmyla and Kostiantyn Vialyi, became owners of a house and land plot in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, not far from their daughter and son-in-law, in February 2024. The house, which is almost 155 square meters, along with the land plot, cost 7 million hryvnias ($169,893).
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- The property acquired by Hovorushchak’s father-in-law and mother-in-law in 2020-2024
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- The property acquired by Hovorushchak’s father-in-law and mother-in-law in 2020-2024
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- The property acquired by Hovorushchak’s father-in-law and mother-in-law in 2020-2024
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- The property acquired by Hovorushchak’s father-in-law and mother-in-law in 2020-2024
Since 2020, Kateryna Hovorushchak’s parents have purchased two parking spaces in new buildings, two two-room apartments of 69 square meters each in new buildings, and a non-residential space. According to the journalists’ calculations, this property could be worth 8.5 million hryvnias ($206,299).
In 2022, Kostiantyn Vyalyi became the owner of two cars: a Toyota Land Cruiser 2020 and a Mercedes-Benz ML350 2011. The Land Cruiser can currently cost around 2.5 million hryvnias ($60,676), and the Mercedes around 1 million hryvnias ($24,270). In 2024, Liudmyla Vyala became the owner of a new Suzuki Jimny 2024, which officially costs at least 937,000 hryvnias ($22,741).
According to the journalists’ calculations, the Hovorushchak and Vyalyi families together purchased real estate and cars worth 35 million hryvnias ($849,465) between 2020 and 2024.
