The NABU and the SAPO suspect four judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal (KCA) of receiving $35,000 in bribes to cancel the arrest of airplanes.
In November 2023, anti-corruption authorities exposed four KCA judges — Viacheslav Dziubin, Ihor Palenyk, Viktor Hlynianyi and Yurii Slyva. According to the detectives, they received $35,000 for canceling the arrest of two unique An-74TK-100 aircraft, which was agreed upon by a representative of Aircompany Constanta PrJSC, Tetiana Polishchuk.
These aircraft were material evidence in a criminal proceeding on obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are owned by the Estonian company EKA GRUPP OU, while in Ukraine, they were operated by Motor Sich JSC and Constanta Airlines.
For this “service,” Mrs. Polishchuk offered $35,000 for Dziubin and three of his colleagues. The judge planned to keep $5,000 for himself as an intermediary, and divide the rest among the judges of the panel — $10,000 each.
Subsequently, according to the investigation, Dziubin received consent from his colleagues Palenyk, Hlynianyi and Slyva, who were to hear the case on appeal. However, as it turned out later, he was not going to give them $30,000. Dziubin estimated his "mediation" at $10,000, and gave the remaining $25,000 to his colleagues for distribution.
Finally, at the end of November, the panel of judges lifted the arrest from one of the planes, and Dziubin received the money in a car from Tetiana Polishchuk at a regular meeting. The money was divided, but the next day, law enforcement officers detained all four judges involved and searched their homes.
All the defendants in the case are charged under Article 368(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Dziubin, Palenyk, Hlynyanyi and Slyva face 8 to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property and disqualification to hold certain positions for up to 3 years.
During the searches, they found $10,000 transferred to Dziubin as an unlawful benefit, and they found the entire $25,000 bribe from Palenyk, as the investigation believes he changed the banknotes before handing them over to Judges Slyva and Hlynianyi. Slyva and Hlynianyi were found to have $8,300 each.
The High Council of Justice also opened disciplinary proceedings against all four judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal suspected of taking bribes: Viacheslav Dziubin, Ihor Palenyk, Viktor Hlynianyi, and Yurii Slyva.
Later, the HCJ decided to dismiss Judge Viacheslav Dziubin (November 21, 2024), Viktor Hlynianyi (April 10, 2025), Ihor Palenyk (March 27, 2025), and Yurii Slyva (April 22, 2025) for committing a serious disciplinary offense incompatible with the status of a judge.
On June 9, 2025, the HACC denied Ihor Palenyk’s motion seeking permission to travel abroad to Croatia for a wellness trip with his granddaughter, citing a high risk that he would abscond outside Ukraine and a lack of sufficient grounds for such travel.
For more on how the judges allegedly divided the bribe among themselves, see our article on this case.
25/09/2024
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