[ad_1]
The head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court was removed from his post after being arrested in a bribery investigation, two anti-corruption bodies said on Tuesday.
The agency did not specify the name of the chair, but said it was the chairman of the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Vsevolod Knyazev was fired as chief judge after a majority of court judges voted to remove him from the post, according to local news reports.
Authorities accused Justice of accepting $2.7 million in bribes.
“This is a dark day in the history of the court,” the court’s judges said in a joint statement. “We have to deserve and withstand such a blow.”
The judge added that he would cooperate with the investigation, and that the court should “act on the principle of self-purification, taking all necessary measures.”
Mr. Knyazev remains a Supreme Court judge; A separate body, the High Council of Justice, has the power to remove people, according to Ukrinform, the state news agency.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau posted a photo on Facebook showing piles of American dollars piled on tables and sofas. The head of the agency, Semen Kryvonos, said that a bribe had been paid to decide the financial group Finance and Credit, which is owned by famous businessmen, according to Reuters.
The Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor’s Office said in Telegram that he and his bureau “arrested the Supreme Court Chief Justice and his lawyers while they were getting illegal benefits.”
Corruption, and Ukraine’s long struggle against it, has mostly receded in public attention after the Russian invasion last February, as Ukrainians rallied around the army and government in a time of national peril.
But this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky has refocused his fight against corruption, aiming to maintain Ukrainian confidence in his embattled government after several officials were fired in January amid a major corruption scandal.
And while Ukraine is seeking quick entry into the European Union, the country is unable to prevent corruption and corruption is a concern of its Western allies.
Anastasia Kuznetsova and Matt Surman contribute reports.
[ad_2]
Source link