In Ukraine, the number of court decisions on corruption increased by 37% in 2025
Kyiv • UNN
For the first five months of 2025, 2032 decisions were made in corruption cases, which is 37% more than last year. 97% of cases end in fines, with only 44 people receiving real prison sentences.
In the first five months of 2025, courts issued 2032 rulings in corruption cases — 37% more than in the same period in 2024. However, most offenders still receive only fines: 97% of rulings are of this nature. This is reported by Opendatabot, writes UNN.
Details
The most common violation remains issues with financial control — non-submission or incorrect submission of declarations. Such cases account for over 73% of all verdicts (1487 rulings). Bribery cases, 347, are in second place, but their number has almost halved compared to last year.
For violations related to conflict of interest, courts punish almost 80% less frequently. This year, there were only 70 such rulings.
The most active regions by number of verdicts are Vinnytsia (182), Odesa (168), and Lviv regions (147). At the same time, only 44 people in 2025 received real prison terms for corruption offenses. The rest got off with fines ranging from UAH 850 to UAH 680,000.
The largest fine this year — UAH 680,000 — was imposed on a postgraduate student of a Kyiv music academy who offered assistance to foreign students for money. The harshest sentence — 10 years in prison — was received by a sergeant from Sumy region who misappropriated and sold military equipment.
The increase in the number of convictions is linked to the reintroduction of mandatory declaration from 2024. At that time, officials also had to submit reports for previous years. Meanwhile, the lifetime inclusion in the Register of Corrupt Officials has already been challenged in the ECHR — the court recognized it as an interference with private life.
A draft law is currently awaiting the President's consideration, proposing to limit the term of stay in the Register for administrative violations to one year.