Supreme Court president arrested in corruption case

A new trick. Ukrainian Supreme Court President Vsevolod Kniazev has been arrested and detained in a $2.7 million corruption case, an official from the Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, Oleksandre Omelchenko, announced on Tuesday (May 16th). Another person was arrested, he said without revealing his identity.

Anti-corruption officials say Ukrainian billionaire Kostiantin Jevago, whom Ukraine is seeking to extradite from France, has agreed with a law firm to pay a bribe to the Supreme Court so that this “take a necessary decision” regarding this ex-MP. According to the Anti-Corruption Prosecution, he transferred 2.7 million dollars to the lawyers. Of this amount, 1.8 million dollars were to be paid to Supreme Court judges and 900,000 dollars to lawyers for their “services as intermediaries”.

“Biggest case” affecting the judicial branch

Also according to the prosecution, the businessman wanted the Court to pronounce a decision which would allow him to keep control of the shares of a mining company which is the subject of a dispute between Kostiantin Jevago and former shareholders. Arrested on December 28, 2022 in Courchevel, France, he was placed in pre-trial detention for a few days and then under judicial supervision since the beginning of January.

The fight against corruption, an endemic evil in Ukraine, is one of the conditions set by the European Union for the maintenance of Kyiv’s candidate status. The State has accelerated its efforts to combat the phenomenon this year. “It’s the biggest deal” affecting the judicial branch of the state, said the head of the national anti-corruption office Semen Kryvonos, citing a “criminal group” formed by judges of the Supreme Court.