Corruption scandal: what we know about the arrest of Ukraine’s top judge At least 6 dead in New Zealand hostel fire

Besides defending against Russian invaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes fighting corruption in his own ranks is the self-proclaimed second most important battle his country is fighting.

Now the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities have apparently dealt a major blow, which can be seen both as a major success and as a symbol of how deeply rooted the problem is in the Ukrainian state: the arrest of Vsevolod Knyasyev, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

According to the newspaper “Ukrajinska Pravda”, about three million dollars have been seized from Knyasiev. He allegedly got the money by accepting bribes. In addition to the chief judge, raids were made on 18 other judges.

According to the paper, the money Knyasiev received was intended to facilitate a Supreme Court ruling in favor of oligarch Konstantin Shevago. Accordingly, the court had to rule on the suitability shares of the mining company Ferexpo, with Schewago getting an advantage.

Corruption is a major problem in Ukraine. In the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) of the independent organization Transparency International, Ukraine was only 116th out of 180 countries in 2022 and was therefore in the same region as Sierra Leone, El Salvador or Algeria, for example.

Not enough for the desired accession to the EU, which has made Ukraine’s accession dependent, among other things, on a lower corruption rate in the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has therefore repeatedly emphasized that his government is doing everything it can to bring the corruption problem under control.

In the past, including during the war against Russia, senior officials, representatives of the judiciary and the military were repeatedly arrested or fired for not being very picky about the principles of their duties. (con)