Ukraine’s head of the Supreme Court was dismissed from his post on Tuesday for his role in a massive bribery scheme, according to reports.
According to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), this is the country’s biggest case.
Oleksandr Omelchenko, one of the prosecutors, did not disclose the identity of the arrested judge, but Ukraine’s high court had been led until now by Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniaziev.
“At this time, the head of the Supreme Court has been detained and measures are being taken to check other individuals for involvement in criminal activity,” Omelchenko told a joint briefing with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
Following NABU’s announcement that they had worked with SAPO to find serious wrongdoing within the Supreme Court through their Telegram and Facebook channels, Kniaziev’s arrest was immediately made.
Kniaziev was the subject of a no-confidence vote in the Supreme Court, which was followed by a vote to remove him as head of the court a few hours later. He would lose his role as a judge at the hands of another judicial authority.
NABU said in a statement on Monday that anti-corruption agencies were investigating large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court system, and shared a photograph of piles of dollars lined up on a sofa.
The bureau also said that the Supreme Court head was suspected of taking a $2.7 million bribe. The agency’s chief, Semen Kryvonos, told Tuesday’s briefing that it was the most high-profile case involving Ukrainian agencies fighting corruption.
“Through tangible cases and concrete actions, we are showing through real cases, real deeds, what our priority is: it’s top corruption, it’s criminal organizations at the highest levels of power,” Kryvonos said.
Kryvonos added that the bribe was given to influence the court’s decision in favor of the Finance and Credit financial group, which is owned by well-known businessman Konstiantyn Zhevago. Zhevago has denied wrongdoing.
Ukraine’s campaign against corruption has been a priority for the country’s future membership in the European Union. The country is now ranked 116th out of 180 nations on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, despite recent progress in the fight against corruption.
