Judicial candidate says he wrote dissertations for others

During an interview with the High Qualification Commission of Judges, candidate for the position of appellate court judge Oleksandr Korolenko stated that he had written dissertations for two female candidates for the position of judge who are currently serving as judges for money.

During the hearing, he explained his desire to become an appellate court judge by the high official salary and significant pension benefits that the position he is applying for entails.

He has a PhD in law and noted in the questionnaire that he continues his research. Oleksandr Korolenko has never been a judge or a lawyer before. He worked in the court, the High Qualification Commission of Judges, twice participated in competitions for the position of detective at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, but they preferred people with experience in pre-trial investigation, and at the Bureau of Economic Security as an analyst, but he did not get the required number of points.

Oleksandr Korolenko explained that he received 15 thousand hryvnias at his previous job, and now he is unemployed. He wanted to go to Thailand, buy an iPhone and equipment for a hike in the mountains.

So, to earn money, he even wrote two dissertations on criminal law for people who are currently working as judges-Mozovska and Vashchuk. He did not declare his income. He wrote the dissertations for $6,000 in three installments.

"This job of writing dissertations found me by itself. When I was working at the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, a friend of mine came to me and said that he needed someone to help his wife write her dissertation, and we agreed that I would do it in three years. I did it and got paid. And then the same friend asked me to write a dissertation for his friend. I wrote it," Korolenko said.

When asked whether he considered such work ethical, the candidate emphasized that he earned money with his head and did not violate any law. The judges needed the dissertations in order to receive additional payments due by law.

The judge only mentioned the names of his clients without specifying their positions, but the Anti-Corruption Action Center said that they were Oksana Morozovska, a judge of the Myrhorod Court of Poltava Oblast, and Olena Vashchuk, a judge of the Kotovsk Court of Odesa Oblast.

Subsequently, Oleksandr Korolenko stated that he had lied about the dissertations. Currently, the High Qualification Commission of Judges plans to appeal to the High Council of Justice in connection with the revealed facts.

In the end, the HQCJ members decided that Oleksandr Korolenko was not worthy to work in the Court of Appeal.

Кирило Бойко