Zenovy Kholodnyuk, head of the State Judicial Administration and a suspect in a high-profile graft case, has submitted his resignation, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the agency, said on Oct. 22.
Kholodnyuk has been charged with organized crime and bribery in a major corruption case against some of Ukraine’s most notorious judges, including Pavlo Vovk, head of the Kyiv Administrative District Court. Kholodnyuk’s State Judicial Administration is responsible for handling organizational and financial issues to support the court system’s functioning.
Kholodnyuk denies the accusations of wrongdoing.
The case is seen by civil society as one of the most egregious cases of judicial corruption and impunity. Top officials, prosecutors and judges have done their best to help Vovk and other suspects escape responsibility and keep their jobs.
Kholodnyuk saga
Kholodnyuk’s letter of resignation will be considered by the High Council of Justice, whose members are also implicated in the Vovk case. In wiretapped conversations released by the NABU, Vovk mentioned the involvement of Andrii Ovsiienko, head of the High Council of Justice, and council members Oleh Prudyvus, Pavlo Grechkivsky, Viktor Hryshchuk and Mykola Khudyk in his alleged bargains with the council. They did not respond to requests for comment.
On Oct. 1, the High Anti-Corruption Court suspended Kholodnyuk as head of the State Judicial Administration. Lyudmila Gizatulina took over as the acting head of the body.
In August the High Anti-Corruption Court released Kholodnyuk without bail. The court ruled that the charges against Kholodnyuk were valid and instructed him not to speak to other suspects in the case.
At the August hearing, prosecutors presented a forensic assessment according to which the voice in NABU recordings ascribed to Vovk belongs to the judge.
In tapes released by the NABU, Vovk discussed “a quid pro quo” with Kholodnyuk in February to March 2019. He would help Kholodnyuk keep his job in exchange for Kholodnyuk appointing a member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges loyal to Vovk.
As part of the deal, Kholodnyuk appointed Serhiy Ostapets as a member of the High Qualification Commission in May 2019. Ostapets, who was also charged in the case, could not be reached for comment, and the commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Vovk also said in the tapes that Kholodnyuk must give bribes for a court ruling in his favor and its enforcement.
Despite the corruption charges, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sept. 1 appointed Kholodnyuk as a member of the commission for Euro-Atlantic integration, according to a presidential decree. The President’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Obstruction of Vovk case
The High Anti-Corruption Court was also scheduled to consider bail for Vovk and Ihor Pohribichenko, a judge at Vovk’s court, on Oct. 22. However, both judges failed to show up for the hearing, and it was postponed until Oct. 29.
The court can consider bail and mild restrictions for Vovk and other judges of his court but cannot consider arrest because Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and the High Council of Justice have not authorized arresting them.
The NABU has summoned Vovk and other judges of his court for interrogations but they have repeatedly ignored the summonses. In August the NABU had to put them on a wanted list.
On Oct. 12, Serhiy Vovk, Pavlo Vovk’s namesake and a judge at Kyiv’s Pechersk Court, also ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office to cancel the charges for Pavlo Vovk because they had been allegedly brought in violation of procedure.
Serhiy Vovk is controversial because he was charged with issuing an unlawful ruling in a civil case in 2015 and was temporarily suspended. In 2012 he sentenced then opposition politician Yuriy Lutsenko to four years in jail in a graft case that has been recognized by European and Ukrainian authorities as politically motivated.
Vovk case sabotaged
In August 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office charged Pavlo Vovk and other judges of his court with obstructing the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, issuing unlawful rulings and unlawfully interfering in the work of other judges.
However, Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky Court rejected a motion to extend the Vovk investigation and ordered prosecutors 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.
In July 2020, the NABU resurrected the case and charged Vovk and other judges of his court with organized crime, usurpation of power, bribery and unlawful interference with government officials.
Judge Serhiy Vovk of the Pechersk Court on Aug. 4 ordered the case to be transferred from the NABU to another body. Anti-corruption activists interpreted this as an effort to kill the case since the State Investigation Bureau, Security Service of Ukraine and the police, which may get the case, are politically dependent and are likely to bury the case.
On Sept. 1, the High Council of Justice also unanimously refused to suspend Vovk and other judges implicated in his case.
