May 14, 2025, 8:42 p.m.
(Photo: NABU)
Iryna Chervynska , a courtroom clerk from the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court, pleaded guilty to participating in a corruption scheme exposed by the NABU.
According to the case, which was considered by the High Anti-Corruption Court, the woman agreed to cooperate with the investigation and testify against the court's management.
The case concerns an attempt to bribe a judge: back in June 2024, Chervynska tried to transfer $2,000 in a case to determine the place of residence of children. She hid the money in a book and handed it over to the judge through a driver in a local cafe. Over the following weeks, she repeatedly reminded the judge of her case - by phone, from abroad, and later in person.
Eventually, on July 17, the judge made the "necessary" decisions, dating them retroactively.
During the investigation, Chervynska testified as part of a large case of an organized group in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi court that illegally changed the place of residence of children during 2022-2024, depriving mothers of their rights. The group includes more than 12 people.
The court took into account Chervynska's sincere repentance and cooperation with the investigation and sentenced her to 4 years' probation with a 1-year probationary period, without confiscation of property. The sentence avoids imprisonment, but provides for control by the probation service.
The investigation believes that the former head of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court of Odesa Oblast, Valentyn Zaveriukha, and a judge of the same court, Serhii Savytskyi, were also involved in the scheme.
In December 2024, the High Council of Justice considered a petition filed by Valentyn Zaveriukha, a judge of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi City District Court of Odesa Oblast. He asked to suspend the disciplinary case against him, citing his mobilization to the Armed Forces.
In January 2024, the SBU, together with the NABU, detained a judge of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Court of Odesa Oblast. According to the investigation, the judge took bribes of $3,500 to make decisions that allowed men of conscription age to avoid mobilization and go abroad.
The scheme has been in place since April 2022. During this time, more than a thousand such decisions were issued. The court fictitiously assigned the place of residence of children to the men, which allowed them to receive a deferral from mobilization. The scheme involved court employees, a lawyer, and intermediaries. The lawyer searched for clients and passed on bribes.
Ірина Глухова