Bribes for lifting arrests from airplanes: the case of judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal

Case description

The NABU and the SAPO suspect four judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeal (KCA) of receiving USD 35,000 in bribes to lift 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 USD 35,000 for canceling the arrest of two unique An-74TK-100 aircraft, which had been approved by a representative of Aircompany Constanta PJSC, Tetiana Polishchuk.

These aircraft were material evidence in the criminal proceedings for obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, they are owned by the Estonian company EKA GRUPP OU, and the holders in Ukraine were Motor Sich JSC and Aircompany Constanta PJSC.

For this "service," Polishchuk offered USD 35,000 to Dziubin and three of his colleagues. The judge planned to keep USD 5,000 for himself as an intermediary, and divide the rest among the judges of the panel—each was to receive USD 10,000.

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 USD 30,000. Dziubin estimated his "mediation" at USD 10,000, and gave the remaining USD 25,000 to his colleagues for distribution.

Finally, in late November, the panel of judges lifted the arrest of 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.

Detectives recorded the further path of the bribe. Dziubin left his share in his office. The judge put the rest of the money, namely USD 25,000, into a whiskey box and took it to Palenyk's office, where they had a short dialogue. 

Dzyubin: "It's cognac, cognac. Not cognac, but whiskey, everything as you like it." Palenyk put the box under the table at that moment, and Dziubin added: "Drink to my health."

Judge Palenyk was next. He was to give  USD 8,300 each to his colleagues Hlynianyi and Slyva; he replaced the banknotes with his own and then packaged them in a coffee bag and an Internet provider's advertising package.

At the same time, he used his "best" acting skills to distribute the "reward." While passing the bribe to Hlynyanyi under the guise of an advertisement, Palenyk said, "Here is an advertisement, you can read it, the Internet quality is good."

He handed the rest of the bribe to Judge Slyva in a coffee package and said: "Take the coffee, the coffee, you treated me to it, it's instant, they say it's good." At home, in addition to the bribe itself, detectives found and seized USD 115,000 and EUR 410 packaged in coffee bags.

All the defendants are charged with 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 a ban on holding certain positions for up to 3 years.

During the searches, they found USD 10,000 transferred to Dziubin as an improper advantage, and they found the entire USD25,000 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 USD 8,300 each.

On September 20, 2024, the SAPO referred the case to the HACC. Judge Tetyana Kryklyva will hear the case single-handedly.