Kniazev called the interview of his «cashier» a ridiculous fake and asked NABU and the Prosecutor General to check the facts

Vsevolod Kniazev at a hearing in the HACC on 17 September. Photo: Court Reporter

Vsevolod Kniazev, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, has asked the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to verify the information provided by his associate, who called himself his «cashier». He believes that the facts voiced in the interview are a fabrication and manipulation.

Vsevolod Knyazev substantiated his position on his Facebook page.

The ex-judge calls Oleksiy Honchar himself an NABU agent, and the information he provided in his interview with Denys Bihus is false, as it can be easily verified in open registers.

«Do not be fooled by the military uniform, because this worthy man joined the army only to stop the criminal cases against him that the SBU and NABU have been investigating since 2021, as well as to block a number of civil proceedings in which people who have been defrauded by him are trying to recover money from him. In fact, this «anti-corruption fighter» is a Russian citizen who has been convicted of fraud on several occasions, has changed his name and surname three times, and is on the international wanted list. I think it is clear from his appearance and physique that he is not serving on the frontline, but in Kyiv — in the part where Roman Nasirov wanted to hide», writes Vsevolod Kniazev.

The former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine has asked the NABU to check the interview of his former comrade Oleksii Honchar. Document from Vsevolod Kniazev's Facebook page

At the same time, he adds that their communication ceased not because Kniazev had new assistants, Kyrylo Horburov and Oleh Horetskyi, as Oleksii Honchar claimed.

«I am very sorry that this person appeared in my life, pretending to be a successful businessman and a decent person, a father of four children, a faithful parishioner. When I found out the truth about him, I immediately stopped communicating with him,» he added.

A screenshot from Vsevolod Knyazev's post on his Facebook page

A screenshot from Vsevolod Knyazev's post on his Facebook page

A screenshot from Vsevolod Knyazev's post on his Facebook page

In addition, yesterday, on 17 September, the High Anti-Corruption Court held a regular hearing in the case of Vsevolod Kniazev, during which he asked the court to establish a violation of the presumption of innocence and to appeal to the Prosecutor General to have Honchar's statements checked in criminal proceedings, writes Court Reporter.

In particular, in his statement to the court, he claimed that Honchar had received a payment from the NABU, but neither he nor his lawyers could officially confirm this. He also filed a motion to request from the NABU all protocols of interrogations of Honchar and investigative actions with his participation.

Vsevolod Kniazev also announced that he would soon tell his own version of the events in an interview with a respected publication.

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It should be noted that on 15 September, Bihus.info published an interview with Oleksii Honchar, who calls himself «the cashier» of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Vsevolod Kniazev. In the interview, he revealed the details of corruption schemes that had been operating in the judiciary for more than 10 years. He described how the rates for positive decisions changed and what role Mykolaiv officials and judges played in this.

The Supreme Court reacted to the interview by stating that it contained unverified information about corruption in court proceedings and could be seen as an attempt to discredit the judiciary.

Vsevolod Kniazev case

In May 2023, the NABU and the SAPO announced that they had uncovered a scheme to obtain undue benefits by the leadership and judges of the Supreme Court. Law enforcers detained the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Kniazev, and seized $2.7 million.

It was reported that former Mykolaiv City Council deputy and notary Kyrylo Horburov is one of the participants in the scheme at the Supreme Court of Ukraine, in which, according to NABU detectives, Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev was detained for a bribe of almost $3 million.

The Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev and his accomplice, a lawyer, were also served with a notice of suspicion in the bribery case. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has released wiretapping records of Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev in the bribery case.

On 30 January 2024, the court reduced Kniazev's bail from 20 million to 18.168 million hryvnias. He was released on bail from the pre-trial detention centre on 31 January. Before that, his bail had already been reduced 6 times. The previous time, on 21 December 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court reduced the bail by 7 million to 20 million hryvnias.

On 26 December 2023, the HACC investigating judge, at the request of the NABU detective, agreed by the SAPO prosecutor, limited the defence's time to review the case file. The deadline for familiarisation is 1 March inclusive.

In May 2024, a panel of judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court extended the term of office of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev, but exempted him from wearing an electronic bracelet. This was reported by Transparency International Ukraine. Vsevolod Kniazev still has to report to the court prosecutor at the first request, not to leave Ukraine, refrain from communicating with witnesses, and hand over his passports for travelling abroad. At the same time, the HACC panel decided to remove Kniazev's electronic bracelet, as the former Supreme Court chief said that he had no electricity and no connection for six hours at his residence, so the bracelet was ineffective. Kniazev also claims that the bracelet has a negative impact on his health. In July 2024, Vsevolod Kniazev, a former head of the Supreme Court from Mykolaiv, was stopped at a border checkpoint in the village of Solotvyno in Zakarpattia region. Already in December, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the High Council of Justice to dismiss former Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev from the position of a Supreme Court judge.

Read more about how the case of Judge Vsevolod Kniazev developed, why law enforcement officers call him an organiser of a criminal group, and how the authorities reacted to the case of Ukraine's top corrupt official.

As reported earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC) decided not to broadcast on YouTube the hearing where the defendants in the case against former Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev are being interviewed because of the excessive number of obscene statements. In addition, the judge asked journalists not to publish verbatim large volumes of conversations, which continue to be examined in court. Following the monitoring of the court hearings by the Information and Analysis Centre of the International Society for Human Rights (IAC ISHR) in the case of Vsevolod Kniazev, the panel of judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court stated that their work had been discredited.

It should be noted that the name of another person involved in the case has recently become known. It is lawyer Anatolii Rekun.