The judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine have voted to terminate the powers of the court's chairman, Vsevolod Knyazyev, with 137 votes. No-one voted against the decision.
Prior to that, judges voted no confidence in Knyazyev: 140 votes in favour, two against, said Andriy Zhuk, chairman of the counting commission of the Supreme Court plenum.
However, Knyazyev will continue to have the status of a judge. Only the High Council of Justice can completely dismiss him from the judiciary.
According to the law, in the absence of the Supreme Court chairman, his powers are exercised by his deputy.. However, the Supreme Court does not have a deputy chairman, so the judge who has been working in the Supreme Court for the longest time will act as the head of the court. Currently, this is the secretary of the Supreme Court plenum, Dmytro Luspenyk.
Yesterday, it was reported that the chairman of the Supreme Court was caught taking a bribe of USD 2.7 million for ruling in favour of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevaho. The case in question is the ownership of a 40.19% stake in Ferrexpo's Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (PMP), which was considered by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. Its ruling left the shares to Zhevaho's affiliated companies, cancelling the invalidation of the sale and purchase agreements concluded 20 years ago.
Only the head of the Supreme Court has been detained in the case, but he has not yet been served with a notice of suspicion. Investigative actions are ongoing, and the involvement of other persons in the scheme is being checked. In addition to the head of the Supreme Court, another person was detained. Zhevaho's business group denies the allegations.
The National Anticorruption Bureau also posted recordings of conversations related to the bribery case involving the leadership of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.