The Office of the Prosecutor General has reported suspicions against the former Deputy Head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine for illegal enrichment amounting to over 97 million UAH, based on materials collected by the State Bureau of Investigations in cooperation with the NACP.

The SBI is conducting a pre-trial investigation in a criminal proceeding regarding the suspicion of the former Deputy Head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine for participation in a criminal organization and involvement in crimes committed by such an organization, as well as for receiving illegal benefits (Part 1 of Article 255, Part 2 of Article 368, Article 368-5, Part 3 of Article 209, Part 1 of Article 111-2, Part 1 of Article 14, Part 4 of Article 189, Part 3 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

During the pre-trial investigation of this criminal proceeding, the SBI initiated monitoring of the lifestyle of the former judge with the NACP. As a result, the NACP identified signs of illegal enrichment in the actions of the individual amounting to over 97 million UAH.

Based on the analysis of the income and expenses of the individual and their trusted persons, it was established that the acquisition of the specified assets could not have been achieved through legal income.

Thus, while serving as a judge of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine, the individual personally or through others acquired assets in the form of 6 apartments and 5 garages in elite residential complexes "Novopecherski Lypky" and "Tetris Hall," non-residential premises, 3 cars, 18 land plots, corporate rights of 2 legal entities, and cash deposits in a bank account amounting to 60,000 dollars.

It was established that the former judge, now a lawyer, was part of a criminal organization primarily composed of judges, lawyers, arbitration managers, various court employees, etc., who built a "business" on judicial decisions.

They issued "necessary" decisions for illegal benefits, mainly in economic disputes.

The organizer of the "scheme" – the former head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine – illegally interfered in the distribution of cases and assigned them exclusively to "his" judges, who fulfilled the "wishes of the clients."

Thus, according to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the individual faces a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

Currently, the issue of changing the preventive measure for the suspect from personal obligation to a more severe one is being resolved.

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, and evidence is being collected within the framework of international cooperation to confirm the illegal acquisition of assets by the individual and their trusted persons not only in Ukraine but also abroad, particularly in Austria, Turkey, the UAE, etc.

Additionally, the actions of the individual and their trusted persons are being checked for signs of money laundering obtained through criminal means.

It should be noted that the mentioned individual is currently in custody as part of another criminal proceeding being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigations regarding encroachments on the economic security of Ukraine in the interests of the aggressor state.

Thus, the individual was notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended by Law No. 2341-III dated April 5, 2001).

In this same criminal proceeding, a suspicion was previously announced against an acting judge of the Economic Court of Kyiv and former high-ranking officials of the state.

According to the investigation, as early as 2011, the aggressor state involved the then President, Prime Minister of Ukraine, and a judge of the Economic Court of Kyiv, as well as leaders of various branches of the judicial system, including the former Deputy Head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine, who at that time held the position of Head of the Kyiv Appeal Economic Court, in subversive activities against Ukraine.

In an attempt to artificially create grounds for direct financing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation from the Ukrainian state budget, high-ranking officials involved the leadership of the judicial system and a judge of the Economic Court of Kyiv to collect 405.5 million dollars in favor of the Russian Federation based on an unlawful court decision.

According to the scheme developed by the individuals, in August 2012, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Economic Court of Kyiv to recover over 3 billion UAH to settle the debt of one of the business entities for natural gas supplied back in 1996-1997.

Despite the expiration of the statute of limitations and the absence of state guarantees for the debts of the enterprise, as well as the lack of evidence of the existence of a debt in 2012 for contracts from 1996-1997, the judge satisfied the lawsuit of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and ordered the recovery of over 3.1 billion UAH from any account of the State Budget of Ukraine in favor of the Russian Federation.

In execution of this unlawful court decision, part of the funds was seized from Ukraine in favor of the Russian Federation. After the onset of the aggression of the Russian Federation against our country and the change of state leadership, another judge of the Economic Court annulled this unlawful decision in 2014, but the unjustly seized funds in favor of Russia could not be returned. According to the investigation, these funds were used to finance the so-called "svo."

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.