Ukraine arrests top judge as crackdown on corruption expands

The chief of Ukraine’s Supreme Court was formally arrested on Thursday as prosecutors indicated in a second day of hearings that a high-level corruption case spread to a wider circle of judges.

Prosecutors also accused a lawyer of acting as an intermediary in paying bribes to the chief justice, and said at least three other court judges were found with thousands of dollars in currency marked by investigators.

Chief Justice Vsevolod Knyazev was detained shortly after midnight on Tuesday by agents of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau. who searched his home and office during simultaneous raids and said they found large sums of cash in US currency.

In videos of court hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, posted in the High Anti-Corruption Courts Youtube Channel, Mr. Knyazev appeared in court in a bright blue sweater and flanked by his lawyers. The Supreme Judicial Council lifted his immunity from prosecution on Thursday, paving the way for his formal arrest.

Mr Knyazev has been charged with bribery in public office, and accused of taking a $1.8 million bribe to influence a case in favor of a Ukrainian oligarch, Kostyantyn Zhevago. A prosecutor said Mr Knyazev sent a message to the lawyer in early May to divide the money into at least 14 separate pockets, and later sent a message saying he had passed the money on to other judges.

Anti-corruption court prosecutor Oleksandr Omelchenko told the court that officers had tracked the payment of the first installment of the bribe on May 3 and raided the house on Monday evening half an hour after a second installment was handed over from Mr. Knyazev.

The anti-corruption agency had infiltrated the group making the bribe and marked the notes used in the payment. Officers discovered $1.8 million in cash at Mr Knyazev’s home and office, but the prosecution said not all of the bribe money, totaling $2.7 million, had been recovered.

Mr. Zhevago, currently in France, is fighting extradition to Ukraine, where he was charged with embezzlement and money laundering in a separate case. He denies involvement in the bribery case.

Oleh Horestkyi, the lawyer representing the oligarch, was apprehended along with Mr Knyazev handing over part of the bribe on Tuesday. He was detained by the court for 60 days, the special anti-corruption prosecutor said in a statement.

The case has shocked and baffled members of the Ukrainian judiciary. In interviews, two Supreme Court justices lamented the damage to the reputation of the court and the judiciary. They said they worked all night and most of Tuesday to prepare a vote in which 140 of the Supreme Court’s 142 judges voted to remove Mr Knyazev from office. The two judges spoke on condition of anonymity, due to their position as members of the court.

With continued Western aid and eventual membership in the European Union and NATO at stake, President Volodymyr Zelensky has done everything he can to crack down on Ukraine’s endemic corruption. In January, numerous officials were fired, including a deputy secretary in the presidential office accused of participating in a $400,000 bribe.

But members of anti-corruption organizations welcomed the investigation as a sign that Ukraine’s anti-corruption law enforcement proved its resilience even during a war.

“I’m glad this happened because it shows that these institutions are independent and can bring anyone to justice,” said Andriy Borovyk, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine.

The Supreme Court rules on the prompt removal of Mr. Knyazev was also a sign of responsibility, said Vitalii Shabunin, director of the board of directors of the nonprofit Anti-Corruption Action Center.

“The good news is that the institution itself is ready to solve the problem,” he said.

The agency said in a statement that the bribe was made on behalf of Mr Zhevago in a dispute over ownership of 40 percent of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, Ferrexpo. The court decided the case in April 2023 in favor of the oligarch, it said.

Mr Shabunin said the high-level prosecution of such a case was proof that the anti-corruption institutions established since Ukraine’s 2014 “revolution of dignity” are working properly. Recent appointments to the bodies had been fair and transparent, he said.

But he said other institutions dragged their feet. In particular, he said, the Ukrainian parliament should reinstate the system of declarations of assets by officials, as demanded by the International Monetary Fund. The law was suspended last year after Russia invaded.

Mr Zelensky’s government, elected in 2019 on promises to curb corruption, has had some success but also setbacks, Mr Borovyk said.

“During Zelensky, we were always one step forward, one step back,” he said. “In general, there were good times and less good times.”

But he said leaders are feeling strong pressure from Ukrainian citizens, who have put the fight against corruption second only to bringing Russia to justice for the war.

Oleksandr Chubko And Dyma Shapoval contributed reporting from Kiev.