$2.7 Million bribe for ruling in Zhevaho’s favor: NABU has concluded its investigation into four Supreme Court judges
The NABU and the SAPO have completed a pre-trial investigation into four Supreme Court judges suspected of receiving improper benefits in exchange for a ruling in the case of businessman Kostiantyn Zhevaho. The case involves a corruption scheme with bribes totaling $2.7 million.
This was reported by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, according to Censor.NET.
The suspects are three sitting judges—Ihor Zheleznyi, Iryna Hryhorieva, and Zhanna Yelenina—as well as retired judge Oleksandr Prokopenko.
According to investigators, they received improper benefits for ruling in favor of Kostiantyn Zhevago, the owner of the "Finance and Credit" group.
Currently, NABU detectives, acting on the instructions of the SAPO prosecutor, have made the case files available to the defense for review.
Why a $2.7 million bribe was paid
The case concerns a 40.19% stake in the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, which a businessman acquired from four companies in 2002.
Eighteen years later, the former shareholders filed a lawsuit seeking to have the purchase agreement declared invalid and to have the shares returned to them. The trial court dismissed the claim, but in 2022, the appellate court overturned that decision.
According to the NABU and the SAPO, in order to avoid losing the shares, Zhevaho conspired in early March 2023 with a lawyer from the so-called "back office" of the Supreme Court.
Between March and April 2023, the businessman, through an intermediary, transferred $2.7 million in illicit benefits to the lawyer, intended to secure the desired court ruling.
On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the businessman. According to the investigation, $1.8 million was subsequently distributed in May among the then-chairman and judges of the Supreme Court.
Three sitting judges and one retired judge were notified of charges on May 19, 2026, under Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—receiving an illegal benefit on an especially large scale.
What is known about other cases
In June 2026, the High Anti-Corruption Court handed down a verdict against former Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev.
Cases involving Kostiantyn Zhevaho and the intermediary in the transfer of an unlawful benefit are currently pending before the High Anti-Corruption Court.
As for the four judges for whom the investigation has been completed, no guilty verdict has been handed down. In accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Zhevago's case
- As a reminder, at the end of September 2019, investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) served a notice of suspicion in absentia on former MP Konstiantyn Zhevaho in connection with the embezzlement of 2.5 billion hryvnias from the "Finance and Credit" bank. In July 2021, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Zhevaho. On 28 December 2022, following a request from the Ukrainian authorities, Zhevaho was detained at the French ski resort of Courchevel.
- The businessman’s press office denied the allegations, stating that he had been abroad for medical treatment. However, in the summer of 2022, journalists spotted him on his own yacht in Monaco.
- On 12 February 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted a decision by the National Security and Defence Council imposing indefinite sanctions against the leader of the opposition faction ‘European Solidarity’, Petro Poroshenko, as well as businessmen Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Kostiantyn Zhevaho and Hennadii Boholiubov, and against the former MP and traitor Viktor Medvedchuk.
- Previously, the courts had seized Zhevaho’s stake in "Poltava Mining and Processing Plant" PJSC and the company’s assets.
