VAKS arrested Zhevago in absentia in the case of bribery to the ex-head of the Supreme Court Knyazev

The investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for the owner of the Finance and Credit group, Konstantin Zhevago, suspected of giving a bribe to the former chairman and judges of the Supreme Court.

This was reported by the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

It is noted that after the suspect is detained and taken to the place of the pre-trial investigation, the investigating judge will decide on the use of this preventive measure.

The SAPS added that at the time of the crime and now the suspect is on the territory of the French Republic.

Bribe case against ex-head of the Supreme Court Knyazev

As reported, on May 16, NABU and SAPO announced the exposure of a bribe scheme by management and judges of the Supreme Court. Law enforcement officers detained the then acting chairman of the court, Vsevolod Knyazev, and seized $2.7 million. Later, SAPO reported suspicion to him and his accomplice, a lawyer.

The case, for which the Chairman of the Supreme Court received a bribe for a decision, is connected with the structures of businessman Konstantin Zhevago. According to the investigation, Zhevago was personally involved in organizing the transfer of the bribe, although he himself denies this.

The SAPC clarified that a lawyer’s association was involved in the transfer of the bribe, which was actually used to cover the “back office”, which made it possible to influence the decisions of the Supreme Court and other courts. He did not name the law firm. The interests of Ferrexpo Zhevago were represented in the Supreme Court by the law firm Ilyashov and Partners, but they denied any involvement in the case.

We are talking about the decision by which, on April 19, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Northern Economic Court of Appeal to invalidate the 2002 agreement on the purchase and sale of 40.19% of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK) Ferrexpo and their transfer to the former shareholders of the enterprise, who were members of the VS Energy group of Russian businessmen Alexander Babakov, Evgeniy Giner, Mikhail Voevodin and Sergei Shapovalov.

In 2005, four selling companies already filed a lawsuit to invalidate the purchase and sale agreement and additional share issues. However, the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine in February 2015 sided with the current owners of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant in a corporate dispute that lasted about 10 years.