On March 20, 2024, a panel of HACC judges found former SSU investigator Serhii Hlivinskyi guilty of bribery, for which he was sentenced to 9 years in prison with confiscation of all property, deprived of his rank, and banned from holding positions in the SSU and law enforcement agencies for 3 years.
In June 2021, NABU detectives served Hlivinskyi with a suspicion notice of extortion and receipt of a USD 80,000 bribe from US citizen David Joseph Ault, a suspect in drug smuggling from China.
In the autumn of 2018, Hlivinskyi learned that the suspect had money in his account, and that he was being physically abused in the pre-trial detention center with threats to take his life. Because of this, he offered to give him USD 60,000 in bribes. After learning about David's wealth, the former SSU investigator raised the amount to USD 80,000.
In exchange for the bribe, Hlivinskyi promised not to provide the prosecutor and the court with documents that would justify the need for further detention of the American, and to conduct the investigation in these criminal proceedings in such a way that David would avoid imprisonment.
The former SSU investigator claimed that he would facilitate the lifting of the seizure of the US citizen's accounts and the return of his US passport. The American agreed to the offer and transferred the unlawful advantage to Hlivinskyi in installments of USD 20,000. The ex-investigator personally provided a cell phone and a laptop to the American to transfer the bribe.
Later, the investigating judge changed the interim measure to 24/7 house arrest and also lifted the seizure of the American's accounts. Hlivinskyi was charged with Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
He was sentenced to 9 years in prison with confiscation of all property and banned from holding positions in the SSU and law enforcement agencies for three years. The court also deprived the ex-investigator of his special rank of Senior Lieutenant of Justice. Currently, convicted Hlivinskyi and his attorneys have filed an appeal with the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court.
