NABU and SAPO have declared new suspicions in a case of large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court. These include three current judges and one retired judge.
This was reported by the NABU press service.
Babelʼs sources say that we are talking about Grand Chamber judges Ihor Zhelezny, Iryna Hryhorieva, and Zhanna Yelenina.
UPD (16:33): Suspicion was also declared against former Supreme Court judge Oleksandr Prokopenko, who is now retired, sources told Babel.
On September 24, 2024, the High Council of Justice decided to dismiss Prokopenko after his resignation.
According to the investigation, these judges received a bribe for ruling in favor of the owner of the Finance and Credit group Kostyantyn Zhevaho in the case regarding shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant.
Investigators allege that in 2023, the businessman transferred $2.7 million through intermediaries to a lawyer connected to the so-called back office of the Supreme Court. The money was allegedly to be transferred to the former chief justice and judges in exchange for the necessary decision.
What is this?
In May 2023, NABU and SAPO reported that they had uncovered a corruption scheme in the Supreme Court. Among those involved was the then-Chairman of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev, who was caught taking a record $3 million bribe.
NABU said that the case is related to decisions in favor of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevaho in the case of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. Zhevaho bought the plant in 2002, but the former shareholders of the company decided to appeal the purchase and sale agreement for 40.19% of the shares.
At first, the court refused to satisfy the claim, but in 2022 the appeal overturned this decision and declared the agreement invalid.
The case then went to the Supreme Court, which in April 2023 decided to leave Zhevaho 40% of Poltava Mining and Processing Complex. The investigation claims that the businessman bribed judges to obtain this decision.
The press service of Kostyantyn Zhevaho told Babel that the shareholder of “Ferrexpo” has nothing to do with this situation, and the information that the bribe could have been given by people who acted in the interests of the businessman is false.
They state that the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court adopted a resolution dated April 19, 2023, which recognized the legality of the acquisition of the Poltava Mining and Processing Complex by “Ferrexpo” in 2002, not in the interests of Zhevaho, but "in the interests of a large, public company with respectable shareholders, which is traded on the main floor of the London Stock Exchange".
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