Expert: Judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court with the help of colleagues “squeezed” more than half a million hryvnias from the state, although the court was supposed to save public funds
Kyiv • UNN
HACC judge Kateryna Sikora received UAH 505,000 in compensation for the quarantine salary restriction. The NACP suspects the judge of illicit enrichment, and experts point to a dangerous precedent for the budget.
High Anti-Corruption Court judge Kateryna Sikora, whom the NACP suspects of illegal enrichment, has used the court to "knock out" half a million hryvnias from the budget. In general, the High Anti-Corruption Court is harming Ukraine to the tune of millions, even though it is supposed to protect public funds. This was written by political expert Oleh Posternak, UNN reports.
"The HACC judge squeezed half a million hryvnias from the state through her colleagues. Kateryna Sikora, whom the NACP suspects of illegal enrichment (!), "squeezed" half a million hryvnias from the budget through the court. This is public information reflected in the judge's declaration. Thus, the "servant of the themis" decided that the Cabinet of Ministers had illegally limited the multi-thousand salaries of top officials and judges during the coronavirus epidemic in 2020. Now, 505 thousand should go conditionally not to the purchase of drones for the Armed Forces, but into the pocket of a HACC judge. If she hasn't had enough of covid, she's catching up in the war. What is this if not corruption?" Posternak wrote.
According to the expert, this contradicts the main function of the HACC, which is designed to protect public funds from encroachment.
"The High Anti-Corruption Court is costing Ukraine millions, even though it is supposed to protect public funds. There is a lot of information on the Internet that its employees are "mastering" public money, showing an example of how to "undress" the country. According to lawyers, Judge Sikora has set a dangerous precedent: now thousands of officials and judges will pocket millions of hryvnias "under-earned" in covid. They will take from the budget of a country at war," he emphasized.
He reminded that this enrichment is just one of the few scandals around the HACC.
"Just recently, there was information about Judge Markiyan Halabala, who illegally received official housing and failed to indicate a number of other information in his declaration (lawyer Rostyslav Kravets wrote about this in his Twitter account). Another judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, Vitaliy Kryklyvyi, was found to be involved in housing fraud with the help of his wife, who, coincidentally, is also a HACC judge! Volunteer lawyer Artem Krykun-Trush wrote about this in his column on UP," Posternak said.
In his opinion, the NABU and the SAPO turn a blind eye to all this while the HACC is stamping out cases on their orders. As a result, the High Anti-Corruption Court is becoming more and more dependent on detectives and prosecutors in exchange for a luxurious life.
"While this is going on, the activities of the NABU-SAPO-HACC triangle are causing more and more damage to the state: victims of their actions are increasingly applying to the European Court of Human Rights and winning considerable sums from Ukraine. Just a few weeks ago, one human rights activist sued the state for 15 thousand euros. In general, Ukraine pays 100 to 200 thousand euros every month under ECHR judgments. Over 2 million euros were paid last year alone. And now we have a threatening tendency to increase the amount of payments. All this is money that the Armed Forces will not receive," the expert summarized.
