Head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court detained on suspected $2.7m bribery charges

According to reports coming out of the country today, Tuesday, May 16, the head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court has been detained on suspected bribery charges.

A post on Telegram from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine read: “NABU and the SAPO have exposed large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, namely a scheme to obtain illegal benefits by the leadership and judges of the Supreme Court”.

It continued: “Urgent investigative actions are currently underway. More details to follow”. The official has not been named but the prosecutor confirmed that he was the ‘head’.

In a subsequent post, NABU wrote: “On May 16, at 12:00, the heads of the NABU and the SAPO will brief the public on the exposed scheme of obtaining illegal benefits by the leadership and judges of the Supreme Court”.

It would be streamed live on the NABU YouTube channel they added. An image accompanying the original post showed a pile of money laid out on a sofa alongside a mobile phone.

Following the press briefing, NABU updated its Telegram with more information: “The unlawful benefit of USD 2.7 million for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a lawyer may be part of a broader scheme of corrupt pressure on the courts”.

It continued: “This was stated at a joint briefing by the Head of the SAPO Oleksandr Klymenko and the Director of the NABU Semen Kryvonos”.

“The scheme was discovered thanks to an undercover NABU detective’s infiltration of the criminal group. And the episode with the ‘reward’ for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is related to the court’s decision in the interests of the owner of the Finance and Credit group”.