$1 million for a decision: Head of Lviv Economic Court caught on bribe
9 December 22:27
The NABU and the SAPO have exposed the former and current chairmen of the Economic Court of Lviv Region for extorting a bribe of one million dollars from a representative of a private company. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi with reference to NABU.
“This is the first exposure of the head of a specialized court of general jurisdiction by anti-corruption authorities. In return, they promised to ensure that the “necessary” decisions were made in court cases of the Western Economic Court of Appeal, and also promised to prevent the murder of the whistleblower, which was planned by his opponents in the trial,” the report says.
During the investigation, detectives and prosecutors recorded the transfer of a part of the bribe in the amount of USD 75 thousand.
The current and former chairmen of the Economic Court of Lviv region were served a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 (Committing a criminal offense by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy, an organized group or a criminal organization) and Part 3 of Article 369-2 (Abuse of influence) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, the involvement of other judges is being established.
Law enforcement officers have not yet disclosed the names of the suspects mentioned in the case.
Vasyl Artymovych is the current chairman of the Economic Court of Lviv region
Earlier, the media reported that on December 5, the NABU conducted searches at the offices of Vasyl Artimovych, the head of the Lviv Economic Court, and Borys Plotnytskyi, the former head of the Western Economic Court of Appeal.
As reported, Vasyl Artymovych became the head of the Economic Court of Lviv Region on March 21, 2023.
Borys Plotnytskyi was appointed Chairman of the Western Commercial Court of Appeal on October 1, 2018. In August of this year, the High Council of Justice dismissed Plotnytskyi and sent him to resign.
Mykhailo Yurkevych was the former head of the Lviv Economic Court. Journalist Oleh Novikov, who monitors the work of the NABU, notes that he is most likely involved in this case.
At the same time, the NABU has not officially named the defendants. The High Council of Justice dismissed Yurkevych at his own request in the spring of 2023.
