The higher anti-corruption court arrested for two months the former head of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, who is suspected of bribery.
As an alternative, he was given bail in the amount of 107 million hryvnias.
Before that, the court arrested lawyer Oleh Horetskyi, who is suspected of mediating the bribery of Knyazev, with the right to a bail of 80 million hryvnias.
The case of Vsevolod Knyazev
On May 15, it became known that Knyazev was caught taking a bribe of almost $3 million. The bribery was connected with decisions in favor of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago in the case of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. In the Supreme Court, a "back office" was created under the leadership of Vsevolod Knyazev — the bar association helped judges make the necessary decisions for money.
What did Zhevago want? In 2002, the businessman purchased 40.19% of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant from four companies. In 2020, the former shareholders wanted to return these shares through the court, but the court refused them. In 2022, the Court of Appeal still declared the contract of sale of shares of the plant invalid. In order to prevent the loss of shares, in early March, Zhevago turned to the "back office" of the Supreme Court. Already on April 19, the Supreme Court made a decision in favor of Zhevago — it recognized that the businessman legally purchased the Poltava plant.