NABU and SAPO confirmed the detention of Supreme Court Chairman Vsevolod Knyazev and another person involved in the corruption scheme

The head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev and another figure were detained in the case of a corruption scheme, in which both the court management and judges are involved. Suspicions were not handed to anyone.

This was reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO) at a joint briefing.

According to the investigation, a criminal group (the so-called "back-office") was created in the Supreme Court under the leadership of Vsevolod Knyazev. NABU and SAPO detectives have been undercover following the judge since the beginning of the year after they received information about corruption.

NABU stated that the case is related to decisions in favor of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago in the case of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. He said that he agreed with the head of one of the bar associations to give a bribe to the court management so that they would make the "necessary" decisions.

According to NABU director Semyon Kryvonos, the first part of the bribe was handed over on May 3, and the second part on May 15. This was recorded "in the heat of the moment".

The press service of Kostyantyn Zhevago told Babel that the Ferrexpo shareholder had nothing to do with this situation, and the information that bribes could have been given by people acting in the interests of the businessman is false. They state that the Great Chamber of the Supreme Court adopted a resolution dated April 19, 2023, by which it recognized as legal the acquisition of the Poltava GZK by the Ferrexpo company in 2002, not in the interests of Zhevago, but "in the interests of a large, public company with respectable shareholders, which trades on the main platform of the London Stock Exchange stock exchange".

Now the investigators are establishing which other instances and which of their decisions the "back-office" could have influenced.

The head of the Supreme Court will remain in custody until the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on the preventive measure.

• On May 15, NABU and SAPO reported on the revelation of a corruption scheme in the Supreme Court. It was noted there that it was about receiving bribes. The adviser to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Serhii Leshchenko noted that Vsevolod Knyazev was caught on a bribe of almost $3 million.
• Vsevolod Knyazev heads the Supreme Court from December 1, 2021. Before that, he was the secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.