The judges elected a new chairman of the Supreme Court (SC) — the head of the Criminal Court of Cassation Stanislav Kravchenko. 108 out of 148 judges voted for him, although in 2017 the Public Council of Integrity adopted a conclusion that he did not meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics.
The DEJURE foundation writes about it.
Stanislav Kravchenko was a member of the panel of judges whose decision violated human rights, as recognized by the European Court of Human Rights.
In his declarations for 2012-2014, the new head of the Supreme Court did not indicate that since 2002 he has owned a plot of land with an area of 900 square meters. There was a house on this plot — Kravchenko also did not indicate it in the declarations for 2004, 2006, 2009.
In addition, in 2003, Stanislav Kravchenko and Serhiy Slynko, who also won the competition for the new Supreme Court, released from custody the murderer of the journalist Honhadze, already ex-general Oleksiy Pukach. Therefore, he managed to escape, and the law enforcement officers found him only six years later.
The case of the former head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev
On May 15, it became known that Knyazev was caught taking a bribe of almost $3 million. The bribe 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 right 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.
- On May 16, the Supreme Court expressed no confidence in Knyazev and released him, later Knyazev was suspected, and then the court arrested him.
- Earlier, law enforcement officers seized $450 000 from Knyazev at home, and another $597 000 was found in his office. The rest of the money is still being sought.
- Meanwhile, businessman Zhevago rejected all accusations of trying to bribe the Supreme Court and called the "customers". He says that the customers of this case are the former Russian owners of his assets, as well as businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi.