Justice Ministry freezes assets, accounts of ex-Supreme Court chief after failing to comply with court order

Ukraine's Justice Ministry froze all assets and accounts of former head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniaziev after he failed to pay a court-ordered sum of nearly Hr 1 million ($25,200) over an illegally received gift.

In December 2023, Kniaziev was found guilty by a court of illegally accepting a gift in the form of renting an apartment in an elite Kyiv neighborhood for Hr 1,000 ($25) a month, an improbable sum for an apartment in Ukraine.

Judges in Ukraine are prohibited from accepting gifts worth more than around $150.

Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention said Kniaziev had been renting the apartment since 2017, but according to the General Prosecutor's office, he started renting it in 2021.

As punishment, a Kyiv court demanded Kniaziev pay Hr 906,600 ($24,000) — the monetary equivalent of the rent he would have paid had it been rented at market price — and a fine of Hr 2,550 ($68).

After Kniaziev failed to pay, a decision was made to seize his assets, Deputy Justice Minister Andrii Haichenko said on April 24.

Kniaziev was first detained and dismissed from his position in May 2023 after he was charged with accepting a $2.7 million bribe to rule in favor of Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago.

He was released from detention after paying Hr 18 million bail (around $450,000) in January but remains suspended from administering justice until the verdict or the closure of the case.

Ukraine's High Council of Justice also opened in mid-April a disciplinary case regarding the conduct of Kniaziev based on complaints received by the council, including from the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.

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