More than eight months have passed since the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced the arrest of Vsevolod Kniazev, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, for bribes totaling $2.7 million. The investigation revealed that he was supposed to transfer the money to other judges of the Supreme Court to make the necessary decisions. Some of them even had "marked bills" during the searches, but some of the "marked" funds disappeared altogether. Knyazev was eventually dismissed from the Supreme Court, but the rest of the judges who may be involved in his case continue to work there and consider cases, UNN reports.
Details
More than 30 searches were conducted as part of the Knyazev case. Including other judges of the Supreme Court. The investigation seized "marked funds" from four judges. Despite the NABU's promise, the names of the Supreme Court judges who may be involved in the Knyazev case have not yet been announced.
The anti-corruption organization Transparency International Ukraine in a comment to UNN noted that it is unclear why the Supreme Court judges whose "marked bills" were found during the searches have not yet been suspected
"If we look at this case, we can only guess why other judges who were found to have "marked bills" remain without suspicion. It is possible that the NABU detectives did not establish how the suspected ex-CJU chief passed the money to them. And if these points are not clarified, the case will simply "fall apart" because their suspicion will not reach the standard of "reasonable suspicion" as required by law," the organization noted.
They reminded that state authorities cannot disclose the names of persons involved in criminal offenses due to the obligations imposed on them by the presumption of innocence. That is, until there is a court verdict that has entered into force, the prosecution cannot name the names of persons suspected or accused of committing crimes.
That's why, according to Transparency International Ukraine, the NABU and the SAPO are veiled in their information about the results of pre-trial investigations.
"In general, Knyazev's case should be sent to court in March 2024 to resolve the charges on the merits. Therefore, in the course of examining the evidence, we can learn more information, including the fate of these judges whose funds were found," the anti-corruption organization added.
Recall
UNN talked about judges and high-profile cases in 2023 involving judges. In particular, it was about the detention for bribery of Knyazev.
In addition, last year, the case of the escape of the former MP accused of a series of contract killings and high treason, FSB agent Oleksandr Shepelev , which was also considered by the panel of judges of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, turned out to be no less odious. Judges Vyacheslav Marynych, Volodymyr Korol and Alla Makarovets unexpectedly decided to close one of the episodes of the case, which concerned bribery, due to what they considered insufficient evidence. Commenting on this decision, experts interviewed by UNN, point out that the judges could have been interested in ruling in favor of the FSB agent.
In addition, at the end of 2023 , the NABU and the SAPO caught four judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal red-handed - Vyacheslav Dziubin, Ihor Palenyk, Viktor Hlynianyi, and Yurii Slyva. They are suspected of receiving 35 thousand dollars in bribes.