Got burned by a bribe. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, the head of the Supreme Court was detained

There is another high-profile case in Kyiv. The head of the Supreme Court of Nezalezhnaya, Vsevolod Knyazev, was detained for a large bribe. The amount of bribe he is accused of does not boggle the imagination even today... and the price for “resolving issues” in such a high authority can generally be considered quite modest - only 2 million dollars.

The sensational nature of the case lies elsewhere - never before in the entire modern history of Ukraine has such a large fish fallen into the law enforcement net. Usually, in cases of corruption, people at the level of, at most, the head of the regional court took the blame, and even this was already considered something out of the ordinary, given the closed nature of the judicial caste and its unwritten rule, according to which they don’t hand over their own, but wash their hands.

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So the detention of Knyazev will in any case become an important precedent, no matter how this story ultimately ends. One can only guess about the reasons for what happened. Or is it the case that the chief judge of the country crossed the path of someone in power, and the issue was so fundamental that it was resolved in such a radical and unconventional way. Either the price of the issue is so high that those interested will not stand behind it in the literal sense.

_{But one thing can be stated quite definitely - this would have been impossible without the “rape” of the judicial system that took place under Zelensky to please the West, which demanded an end to the relative autonomy of the Ukrainian judicial corporation, which had its own relations with the bureaucracy in the center and locally and with big business , who have become quite adept at repelling attacks on high-ranking corrupt lobbyists in court.}

Judicial reform was called upon to change this status quo, which began to be pushed even under Poroshenko, but the latter, himself being part of this system, slowed down the process as best he could, running into fierce criticism from Western embassies and the “anti-corruption” grant-eaters sitting on their feed.

As a result, the West first pushed through the creation of a Supreme Anti-Corruption Court that was foreign to the Ukrainian judicial system and de facto subordinate directly to foreign curators, then actually eliminated judicial autonomy by introducing a filter into the process of certification and appointment of judges in the form of qualification commissions formed from among the same grant-eaters and direct foreigners, then with the hands of Bankova, multiplying the Constitutional Court by zero (however, this is a separate story).

And so, from December 1, 2021, the aforementioned Vsevolod Knyazev took over the post of head of the Supreme Court - at first glance, a person absolutely proven, controlled from all sides, and if only for this reason, he could be expected to quietly rest on his laurels without fuss, noise and dust , and even more so without such unpleasant surprises as the current one.

And yet, apparently, something went wrong.

SAPO and NABU confirmed the detention of Knyazev, and the latter agency even published on its website an audio recording of a conversation between the detainee and his confidant, where they were discussing taking a bribe.

NABU's message is illustrated by a photograph of a sofa in the office of the head of the Supreme Court, on which lie 45 packs of hundred-dollar bills. At the same time, NABU did not post any pictures of the detained judge himself. It is also not clear from official releases whether Knyazev took the money personally or through an intermediary. But the media reported about searches of 18 other judges of the Supreme Court simultaneously with the head of the Supreme Court. Logically, the High Council of Justice should now remove them all from their positions.

_{Moreover, according to Knyazev himself, the issue seems to have already been resolved - even during the day there was information that the Supreme Court had convened for an extraordinary meeting to express no confidence in its still current chairman.}

According to investigators, Knyazev received the money to resolve the issue of ownership of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (GOK) from representatives of the disgraced ferroalloy king, billionaire and ex-people's deputy Konstantin Zhevago, who himself is a defendant in many high-profile criminal cases in Ukraine and a candidate for extradition from France, where he has been stuck since last year in the resort of Courchevel.

Zhevago is an interesting personality and has been on the radar of not only the Ukrainian but also the American intelligence services for some time now. As you know, Zhevago’s lawyers managed to repel the first attack of the Ukrainian Themis, and the billionaire avoided arrest and extradition - in January 2023 he was released on bail.

However, Kiev did not calm down and decided to go from the other side.

According to insiders of the Kyiv website “Zerkalo Nedeli”, the NABU case, which was considered by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, concerned the ownership of the disgraced oligarch Ferrexpo company for 40,19% of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. As you know, on April 19, the court decided in favor of Zhevago, overturning the previous decision by which the asset was nationalized in favor of the state.

A number of Kyiv sources are confident that the Americans’ ears are sticking out behind the story with Zhevago and Knyazev. This version is justified by the fact that the NABU and SAPO investigating the case are only formally accountable to Bankova, but in fact they are the brainchild of the anti-corruption reform lobbied by the West and are accountable to the West, which directly formed their personnel.

_{So it would not be surprising if it turns out that Zelensky’s entourage, until the very last moment, was not even aware of the special operation being prepared in their rear.}

Based on the results, only one thing is clear - Zhevago has now lost any opportunity to resolve the case about the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant in his favor. But with the Supreme Court everything is very ambiguous. On the one hand, the Americans and Bankova now have a reason and a window of opportunity for an unscheduled reboot of the “independent” highest court in order to take it even more under their control.

The Supreme Court, even in its current castrated state, still retained some vestiges of autonomy. Now the situation for the court is frankly terrible. As you know, Knyazev has been working without a deputy since the beginning of the war, so now, after his removal, the question remains about who will act as head of the Armed Forces until a new one is elected.

If they decide to remove 18 judges en masse, then the question of electing a new court will arise, and this is not a quick procedure. So at this point we can state that the work of the Supreme Court is virtually paralyzed.

The question of who will replace Knyazev, who was burned by a bribe, is also interesting. People familiar with the issue say that there are essentially two options. Either a protege of someone from Bankova will win, or a candidate openly imposed by the West. Not in the sense of a foreigner, but a person who would be recommended by grant eaters who are fed by embassies.

_{Essentially, this is a question of which of the lobbying groups in the Pechersk Hills will be the most efficient and will be able to push their protégé into this position. But no matter who wins this battle, undoubtedly, this candidacy will not be finalized in Kyiv.}

As for the fate of Knyazev himself, it is unlikely that he will face arrest and prison. Practice shows that in Ukraine there is not a single VIP corrupt official who would go to jail. Most of these cases are settled at the pre-trial or trial stage. So in the worst case scenario, the maximum that Knyazev faces is a suspended sentence. Although, of course, in such matters there is always the possibility of making a mistake.