Ukraine detains Supreme Court chief justice on suspicion of bribery

Ukrainian authorities have detained the chief justice of the Supreme Court for allegedly accepting bribes from an oligarch, as Kiev steps up its anti-corruption efforts during its war with Russia.

Vsevolod Kniaziev was accused of receiving a $2.7mn bribe, according to Ukraine’s anti-corruption prosecutors, who said the money was a “reward” for a decision made “in favor of the owner of Finance and Credit Group”. That group is controlled by mining tycoon Kostyantin Zhvago.

The high-profile case is the latest in a series of investigations targeting the country’s oligarchs, as Ukrainian authorities vow to crack down further on corruption, a condition for Western financial and military support, as well as the European Union And there is also integration into the NATO army. alliance.

“The head of the Supreme Court has been detained and measures are being taken to investigate other persons suspected of involvement in criminal activity,” Oleksandr Omelchenko, a prosecutor with Ukraine’s SAPO special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, said on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court removed Niaziev from his position on Tuesday, with a new chief justice likely to be voted on soon. “It is a black day in the history of the court. We must be dignified and face such a setback,” the court said.

Kniaziev could not be reached for comment.

SAPO detailed the case in a joint statement with Ukraine’s NABU anti-corruption bureau, including photographs of piles of cash on sofas and diagrams of the alleged bribery scheme.

Zhevago is fighting extradition to Ukraine related to a separate alleged bank fraud case. Ukrainian media reported that his press service denied his involvement in the alleged bribery and denied officials’ claims that the Supreme Court investigation is related to his legal battle over assets belonging to London-listed iron ore producer Ferexpo.

A spokesman for Zhevago did not immediately respond to requests from the Financial Times for comment.

It was not immediately clear how the incident would affect the court, which was reformed in 2019 before Volodymyr Zelensky took office as president. Zelensky’s administration has yet to fully reboot the country’s tainted constitutional court, with which he clashed before Russia’s full-blown invasion.

For decades, Ukraine’s oligarchs have used their media and political influence to corrupt state institutions and grow their businesses. But his influence has been weakened by anti-corruption measures and damage to his corporate interests by Russia’s war.

On Monday, Ukraine’s SBU state security service said it had issued a notice of suspicion to Dmitry Firtash, another oligarch, accusing him of embezzling natural gas worth about $500 million. Firtash, exiled in Vienna where he has fought extradition charges to the US since 2014, denied claims of wrongdoing through a statement released by his Group DF holding, which called the investigation an “ongoing campaign of corrupt pressure”. Told part of.

The oligarch is a former partner of Russia’s Gazprom in the billion-dollar business of supplying gas to Ukraine, and was sanctioned by Kiev last year.

The SBU has also this year secured court orders to freeze the assets of another Ukrainian-sanctioned oligarch, Vadim Novinsky.

On Tuesday, another Ukrainian banned oligarch, Pavel Fuchs, described a new SBU case against him as “groundless” in a statement to Telegram.

“This once again shows that (the authorities) are misleading the President of Ukraine and Ukrainian society, guided by their own interests, and not the interests of Ukrainian society, which has shown extraordinary cynicism during a full-scale war.” performance,” he added.

Additional reporting by Sam Jones.