Judge of the Novograd-Volyn City Court Taras Stashkiv came into the spotlight due to his mother’s purchase of an apartment in Kyiv for funds, the origin of which raises serious questions.
In 2017, the mother of a judge, working as a teacher in Ternopil, purchased an apartment with an area of 38.9 square meters. m in the capital for 1.31 million hryvnia (approximately 49.5 thousand dollars). However, these funds are not indicated in the judge’s declaration, which aroused suspicions among the Public Virtue Council (PVD).
Stashkov explained that a significant part of the funds for the purchase of the apartment was lent by his father-in-law, who received 30 thousand dollars from his partner. However, the GRD expressed doubts about the existence of this loan and the financial ability of the judge's father-in-law to repay such significant funds, given his low official income.
The GRD analyzed the judge's profile and found that his mother could not save enough money for such a large purchase while working as a regular teacher. The judge's father-in-law, who lent the funds to Grigory Galayko, is also credited with low income, since his entrepreneurial activities brought only minimal earnings.
In addition, the GRD drew attention to discrepancies in the value of cars owned by the judge. In particular, Stashkov sold a Nissan Qashqai car that was involved in an accident for 274 thousand hryvnia, while the BMW 320XI he purchased in 2015 cost only 200 thousand hryvnia. The GRD believes that the judge deliberately underestimated the value of the BMW and inflated the sale price of the damaged Qashqai in order to avoid questions about the origin of the funds.
In addition, the GRD points out other questionable actions of the judge, in particular, his decisions in cases of driving while intoxicated. It is noted that the judge recognized 10% of violations of this article as insignificant, and 6% of the cases were referred to the labor collective, which, according to the GRD, allowed the violators to avoid due responsibility.
Let us remind you that the High Council of Justice refused to cancel the honorable resignation of Supreme Court judge Valentina Symonenko. Almost a year ago, investigative journalists found a Russian passport in her possession, but the PSA did not find sufficient evidence to stop the dismissal, which carries a life sentence. Simonenko receives about 200 thousand hryvnia monthly from the state budget.
