On October 2, 2026, the HACC held the second preparatory hearing in the case of a criminal organization led by Dmytro Sennychenko, former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

The main outcome of the hearing was the court's decision to move from single-judge to panel consideration of the case, which the defense and the prosecution both unanimously supported.

The court also considered yet another motion to recuse the prosecutor, which the defense based on events from the pre-trial investigation. According to the defense lawyer, on June 22, 2023, the prosecutor asked to extend the investigation period without disclosing her own resolution of June 21, 2023, suspending it. The prosecutor opposed the motion, stressing that the defense was trying to appeal to her personal interest. The judge denied the recusal motion.

Dmytro Sennychenko's defense lawyer, for her part, filed a motion to be released from her duties as his lawyer. She noted that the former SPFU head is on the wanted list, so she is unable to hold a confidential meeting with her client, and that she herself is under pressure in the form of complaints to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar over allegedly inadequate defense. The court denied this motion as well.

Among other things, five defendants appeared at the hearing: Yurii Lypka, Mykola Synytsia, Denys Kudin, Volodymyr Kolot, and Pavlo Prysiazhniuk.

Some of the defendants are on the international wanted list, while others are in custody abroad. The defense insisted on postponing the proceedings because the defendants had not been properly notified of the hearing date. What is more, the court has not yet decided on a trial in absentia for the defendants who are abroad.

In particular, lawyers for Andrii Hmyrin, adviser to the former SPFU head, reported problems connecting their client to the video conference because he has no electronic digital signature and had allegedly not been properly notified. And the lawyer for Mykola Parsentiev, former acting director of Odesa Portside Plant, said that he has been detained and is currently in Poland, where his extradition to Ukraine is being decided.

Although the defense asked for the hearing to be postponed, the court noted that all summonses had been sent in good time and that procedural law allows a preparatory hearing to be held without the appearance of persons subject to a special pre-trial investigation (in absentia).

The case concerns the events of 2019–2021, when, according to the investigation, former SPFU head Dmytro Sennychenko set up a criminal organization that embezzled money from the state-owned enterprises Odesa Portside Plant and United Mining and Chemical Company by violating tender procedures for product procurement. Sennychenko brought his acquaintances, UMCC and OPP officials, and private entrepreneurs into the scheme.