On August 6, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) sentenced the former head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Oleksiy Salnikov to 3 years in prison for abuse of influence, inciting judges of the Supreme Court to bribery. He is also barred from holding positions in state and local government bodies for the same period.
This was reported by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO). Details are provided by Transparency International Ukraine.
The court upheld the bail of UAH 575 320 and, until the verdict becomes legally binding, ordered Salnikov not to travel outside Kyiv and the region without the courtʼs permission, and also to surrender his passport or other documents for traveling abroad.
The prosecutor requested that Salnikov be sentenced to 7 years in prison, have his property confiscated, and be stripped of his civil servant rank for incitement to bribery and fraud.
The defense asked for Salnikov to be acquitted. The lawyers argued that all actions were initiated by the applicant and witness in the case Oleksiy Honchar and that Salnikov did not incite or incite anyone to take a bribe. They also believe that Honcharʼs testimony is unreliable.
What preceded
In 2023, Salnikov was exposed for inciting the Supreme Court judges to bribe. On March 5, 2023, Salnikov received $7 500 from a representative of a private company, of which $5 000 was to be given to the judges for the necessary decision, and $2 500 was to be kept for mediation.
Salnikov later promised to help the Supreme Court reach a decision, including by involving its former chairman Vsevolod Knyazev. However, after Knyazev was exposed for taking a $3 million bribe, Salnikovʼs behavior changed dramatically — he began to evade resolving the issue, but he was not going to return the bribe he received.
- On May 15, 2023, it became known that the head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev was caught taking a bribe of almost $3 million. The bribe was related to decisions in favor of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevaho in the case of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (here is more about the case). Businessman Zhevaho rejected all charges and named the “customers” — these are allegedly the Russian owners of his assets, as well as businessman Ihor Kolomoisky.
- On May 16, the Supreme Court expressed no confidence in Knyazev and released him, later Knyazev was suspected, and then the court arrested him with the right to bail of UAH 75 million. After that, the court reduced the bail seven times — the last time to 18.168 million. On January 31, 2024, this amount was paid, and Knyazev was released from custody.
- At the end of May last year, Knyazevʼs electronic bracelet was removed — he complained that he had "no electricity and no communication for six hours, so the bracelet is ineffective". However, the term of his duties was extended.
- In July, the Supreme Court of Ukraine lifted the arrest of part of the funds of former Supreme Court Chairman Knyazev.
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