Supreme Court Judge Iryna Hryhoryeva did not declare "money" from Knyazyev

Supreme Court Judge Iryna Hryhoryeva did not declare "money" from Knyazyev

Supreme Court Judge Iryna Hryhoryeva did not declare $50,000, the source of which she could not reasonably explain.

This became known from the results of a full verification of the judicial representative’s declaration for 2023.

The judge filed the declaration on March 22, 2024, after her home was searched and $50,000 (equivalent to 1.83 million UAH) was seized. Hryhoryeva was questioned as a witness in the case of possible bribery (Part 4, Article 368 of the Criminal Code) on June 16, 2023.

The judge explained that the $50,000 was a loan she took from a person with a “good reputation” and stable income. The money was reportedly to be returned after the sale of a garage in Kyiv. However, the judge did not provide NABU and NACP with any documents regarding the loan, did not declare these funds in her previous declaration, and did not mention this loan during a search in Ivankovychi, Obukhiv district, Kyiv region.

NACP believes that the judge might have deliberately provided false data to avoid responsibility. The total amount of inaccurate information in the declaration is 1.83 million UAH. The judge’s actions show signs of a crime under Part 1, Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code (declaring false information). This information was passed on to the head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies.

Before the NACP check, Iryna Hryhoryeva tried to appeal the HACC decision to arrest the funds seized from her. The matter is that this is part of a $2.7 million bribe received by the former head of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazyev.

Initially, Hryhoryeva stated that $19,600 of these funds allegedly belonged to her daughter Anastasiya. However, later Iryna and Anastasiya Hryhoryeva withdrew their complaints about the seizure of funds.

Recall that NABU and SAPO announced suspicion to Knyazyev and the lawyer who was his intermediary. According to the investigation, in 2002, Ukrainian businessman Kostyantyn Zhevaho bought 40.19% of the shares of the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant from four companies (hereinafter - former shareholders). Eighteen years later, the former shareholders appealed to the economic court to declare the purchase and sale contract of securities invalid and return the shares of the Poltava plant to them.

However, the court refused to satisfy the claims. In 2022, the appellate court overturned the first-instance decision and declared the securities purchase and sale contract invalid. To prevent the loss of shares, at the beginning of March 2023, the businessman conspired with a lawyer from one of the capital’s law associations, who had connections with Supreme Court judges. During March-April 2023, he transferred $2.7 million to the lawyer ($1.8 million to Supreme Court judges, the rest as “payment” for intermediary services). Ultimately, in April 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the businessman.