Bail Set for President of Supreme Court Arrested on Bribery Charges

Vsevolod Kniaziev, the President of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, has been arrested and taken into custody until mid-July 2023 by the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC), on late evening of May 18.

Bail was set at $2.9 million. If released, he must abide by several requirements: not leaving Kyiv without permission of the court, wearing an electronic monitor, and not communicating with certain persons indicated by the court.

Earlier on May, the High Council of Justice gave its permission to arrest Kniaziev.

Kniaziev was detained by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on May 15 and served with a notice of suspicion for taking a $2.7 million bribe.

HACC also arrested lawyer Oleh Horetsky and set bail at $2.1 million bail. Horetsky allegedly acted as an intermediary between Kniaziev and Ukrainian oligarch Kostyantyn Zhevago, who bribed the Supreme Court to obtain a favorable decision.

Court hearings revealed new details about the NABU investigation. More than 10 judges of the Supreme Court may have been involved in the case. As prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported, Kniaziev ordered that the bribe be split into 13 parcels: 10 parcels with $100,000 each, 2 parcels with $150,000 and one parcel with $50,000.

Over $1 million worth of marked banknotes have yet to be found by NABU detectives. Prosecutors argued that if Kniaziev were not arrested and were in possession of the cash, he might attempt to destroy the evidence.

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During detainment, Horetsky escaped from NABU detectives through the balcony of his apartment. Within an hour, he was detained in a Kyiv hotel.