Ukrainian media outlets have jointly published an investigation into 143 apartments and offices linked to the brother of State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) Director Oleksii Sukhachov after a Kyiv court barred two of the original organizations from releasing it.

As reported by ZN.UA, the article was published under “Initiative 143,” a coordinated response by journalists who described the injunction imposed by the Pechersk District Court as an act of censorship.

The reporting focuses on Oleksandr Sukhachov, the older brother of the SBI director, whose property record reportedly runs to 155 pages.

According to the investigation, Oleksandr Sukhachov acquired 143 apartments and commercial units between 2018 and 2020 in two Kharkiv developments for a fraction of the going rate. Ukrainian media claim the apartments were acquired “for the price of a smartphone.”

On July 9, 2018, Sukhachov reportedly bought 30 apartments in the IT-Park Manufactura complex for between 24,600 and 48,900 hryvnias each, equivalent at the time to roughly $932 to $1,856.

The total price for the 30 units was said to be just over one million hryvnias, or around $39,300, accounting for the exchange rate at the time.

Two days later, he allegedly acquired another 28 apartments for less than $33,000 in total.

The investigation noted that apartments in the same complex were later advertised at an average of nearly $800 per square meter, raising questions over how Sukhachov obtained the properties at such heavily discounted prices.

The seller, Parkovyi-2 LLC, went to court after receiving questions from the press, but outlets were subsequently barred from publishing information concerning Sukhachov’s property purchases or investments.

Parkovyi-2 argued that the information concerned an individual’s private life and contained commercial secrets.

The journalists said the issue extended beyond private property ownership because the developer of the apartment buildings, Stroy City, later became connected to a criminal investigation handled for a period by the SBI, the agency led by Sukhachov’s brother.

Parkovyi-2 was owned at the time of the apartment purchases by Ivan Kozikov, who has been linked to Stroy City.

The reporting also connected the developer to businessman Yehor Maslennikov, from whom Oleksandr Sukhachov allegedly bought another 11 apartments for nominal sums.

During searches of Stroy City offices in 2021, police reportedly discovered company seals and financial records connected to firms owned or previously owned by Oleksandr Sukhachov.

That year, police and prosecutors opened proceedings over suspected unauthorized construction by Stroy City in Kharkiv, including at locations where Sukhachov had acquired property.

The case was transferred in December 2022 to the SBI’s main investigative directorate.

No potential conflict of interest was reportedly disclosed while the case was under the bureau’s control. The proceedings were later reassigned to the National Police in August 2025 and were eventually closed, although the journalists said they were reopened after those named in the investigation received media inquiries.

Oleksandr Sukhachov no longer owns nearly all of the 143 properties, according to the report.

The State Bureau of Investigation said it had no information concerning Oleksandr Sukhachov’s business relationship with Stroy City or his acquisition of real estate.

The bureau also rejected suggestions that family ties had influenced the handling of the criminal proceedings.

Some Ukrainian MPs are now calling for the resignation of Oleksii Sukhachov.

“The Council must urgently adopt a bill to reboot the State Bureau of Investigation and elect a new director there through a transparent competition,” said People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak after the report’s publication.

Tetyana Sapian, communications adviser to the SBI director, told Ukrinform that the bureau had not itself made the decision to close the case.

She said responsibility for assigning investigations rests with prosecutors and confirmed that a deputy prosecutor general transferred the proceedings to the National Police on Aug. 16, 2025.

“Family ties of any persons are not grounds for conclusions about the influence on the course of the pretrial investigation or the adoption of procedural decisions,” Sapian said.

She added that the SBI does not comment on the private business activities of people who are not employees of the bureau.