The High Council of Justice, the judiciary’s highest governing body, is once again trying to protect notorious judge Pavlo Vovk and his colleagues, who face corruption charges.
On July 17, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine charged Vovk, head of the Kyiv Administrative District Court, and other judges of his court, with organized crime, usurpation of power, bribery and unlawful interference with government officials.
Shortly after that, the High Council of Justice criticized the NABU’s actions and asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to open a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful interference by the agency.
Anti-corruption activists and legal experts argue that, by protecting Vovk, the High Council of Justice once again proved that it is the main guarantor of judicial corruption and opponent of judicial reform. The council did not respond to a request for comment.
Numerous top officials and government bodies have faced accusations of sabotaging the case due to the political connections of Vovk.
Protecting notorious judges
On July 24, the High Council of Justice asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to open a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful interference by the NABU into the work of several council members. According to the High Council of Justice, the NABU’s summons for council members Viktor Gryshchuk, Pavlo Grechkivsky and Oleg Prudivus as witnesses in the Vovk case constituted interference.
On July 23, the High Council of Justice also lambasted the NABU for the use of the words “crimes” and “corruption” in the NABU’s statements about the Vovk case, claiming that they violated the presumption of innocence.
“The High Council of Justice emphasizes that government bodies and officials must abstain from public relations and political campaigns, statements and actions that may influence the independence of the judiciary and disrupt the authority of the judiciary,” the council said.
Meanwhile, the High Council of Justice has never made any statements or taken any action regarding Vovk’s alleged violations of judicial ethics.
“The High Council of Justice protected Vovk and his court,” the Anti-Corruption Action Center said on July 23. “So (the NABU) is not allowed to use the words ‘corruption’ and ‘organized crime’ but judges of the Kyiv Administrative District Court are allowed to discuss usurpation of power and pressure the main judicial governance bodies.”
Despite the council’s claims that the NABU is attacking judicial independence, Vovk and his court are not known to be independent. On the contrary, he has been accused of serving the interests of all governments that were in power since he became the court’s chairman in 2011, which he denies.
Wiretapped conversations released by the NABU document Vovk’s close relations with Oleksandr Hranovsky, a former lawmaker from ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s party, during Poroshenko’s presidency. In 2016, Vovk was filmed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty meeting with Hranovsky, who was widely considered the president’s point man in charge of controlling judiciary, but denied it.
Grechkivsky saga
According to the NABU tapes, Vovk unlawfully interfered in the work of the High Council of Justice, the High Qualification Commission of Judges, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. Vovk denies the accusations.
Vovk and High Council of Justice member Grechkivsky cooperated to promote the appointment of Supreme Court judges loyal to them, according to the tapes.
“If Grechkivsky creates a coalition, everyone must bow to him and agree with him on who will win (Supreme Court jobs),” Vovk said in the tapes.
Meanwhile, in 2019 Vovk’s court allowed Grechkivsky to be re-appointed to the council for a second term despite the constitutional ban on two terms for High Council of Justice members.
In 2016, Grechkivsky was charged with extorting $500,000 for favorable court rulings with the help of Bohdan Lvov, who is now a Supreme Court judge. Both of them deny the accusations.
Oleg Shklyar, who was arrested with the money, testified that he had been planning to give it to Grechkivsky. The investigators also released a wiretapped phone conversation in which Grechkivsky instructs Shklyar to give him the bribe. However, in 2018 Grechkivsky was acquitted by a court.
Public Integrity Council member Roman Maselko argued that, despite the solid evidence of Grechkivsky’s guilt, the prosecutors had intentionally sabotaged the case by committing procedural violations and failing to catch Grechkivsky red-handed with the bribe.
Oleg Prudyvus, a member of the High Council of Justice, has also been recorded by investigators as discussing alleged criminal schemes with Vovk. Another member of the council, Mykola Khudyk, also features in the recordings.
Vovk’s suspension
In August 2019 the High Council of Justice refused to suspend Vovk and other judges of his court due to the criminal case against them.
Roman Ratushny, the founder of a group that fights illegal construction in Kyiv’s Protasiv Yar neighborhood, said on Facebook that members of his group had seen the High Council of Justice members Volodymyr Hovorukha and Andriy Ovsienko enter the Presidential Office on the eve of the council’s decision on Vovk. He said that, according to his information, the council members discussed keeping Vovk on his job with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s then Chief of Staff Andriy Bohdan.
The High Council of Justice told the Slidstvo.info investigative journalism project that Hovorukha and Ovsienko had visited the Presidential Office to discuss judicial reform.
Toxic council
The High Council of Justice has a toxic reputation among Ukraine’s civil society. Many of its members face accusations of corruption and ethics violations, which they deny.
According to Ukraine’s memorandum with the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine was supposed to create a commission including foreign experts in order to fire tainted members of the High Council of Justice if they violate ethics and integrity standards.
However, in June President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a judicial reform bill that does not envisage such a commission and does not comply with the IMF memorandum. Moreover, it gives the discredited High Council of Justice complete control over judicial reform.
“Mr. President, does Ukraine need a judicial reform that strengthens the discredited High Council of Justice?” the Anti-Corruption Action Center said. “How long will you stay silent about the proposal to liquidate the Kyiv Administrative District Court?”
Zelensky’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Vovk case
In August 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office pressed its first charges against Vovk and two other judges of his court.
The judges were then charged with obstructing the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, issuing unlawful rulings and unlawfully interfering in the work of other judges.
In 2019, prosecutors applied to extend the pre-trial investigation period by three months. However, Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky Court rejected their motion and ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office to either close the case against the judges or send it to trial within five days. The prosecutors did not send it to trial, and the case stalled indefinitely after that.
However, the deadline for sending the old case to a court does not apply to the new charges against the judges announced in July, and the new case may be sent to trial.
Two sources at the NABU and the Prosecutor General’s Office told the Kyiv Post that Deputy Prosecutor General Andriy Lyubovich is facing pressure from Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova for authorizing the new charges. She was supposed to apply to the High Council of Justice for suspending Vovk and the other judges but has not done that so far.
The Prosecutor General’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
