Knyazev admitted to accepting a bribe from Zhevago and testified against the Supreme Court justices
Several years after his high-profile arrest, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Knyazev admitted that he had received illicit benefits from businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago and testified against a number of judges, which dramatically altered the course of one of the most high-profile anti-corruption cases in Ukraine in recent years.
Following this testimony, new allegations emerged against Supreme Court judges, and the investigation obtained additional details regarding how, according to the NABU, the money-transfer scheme within the judicial system might have operated. This was reported by "Sudovy Reporter."
According to journalistic sources, on May 14, 2026, Knyazev gave testimony to NABU detectives without the presence of lawyers, effectively admitting to receiving funds. Afterward, as noted, he began cooperating with the investigation and provided information regarding other individuals involved in the case, which could influence the further course of the proceedings and potentially lead to a reduced sentence.
On May 19, NABU and the SAPO reported searches at the homes of Supreme Court judges and Knyazev himself; however, there were almost no public explanations at the time, and the former head of the Supreme Court appeared at the High Anti-Corruption Court hearing without comment and later dismissed one of his defense attorneys, requesting that the hearing be closed.
Following Knyazev’s testimony, several judges of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court—Iryna Hryhorieva, Zhanna Yelenina, and Ihor Zheleznyi—as well as retired judge Oleksandr Prokopenko, were immediately suspected of receiving illicit benefits. According to the investigation, marked bills had previously been found in the possession of some of the individuals involved, which became one of the key elements of the case.
At the same time, the judges themselves deny the criminal nature of the funds and offer their own explanations for their origin. Yelenina’s lawyers claim that the money may have been transferred to address social issues related to the military, while other defendants cite different amounts and claim the funds were received under random circumstances.
Judge Ihor Zhelezny does not deny receiving the money but insists that the amount was different from what is stated in the indictment and explains this as alleged assistance for civil defense. Another defendant, Oleksandr Prokopenko, claims that part of the funds may have come to him accidentally during currency exchange transactions.
The investigation, however, views these explanations with skepticism and continues to gather evidence, including recordings of conversations and other materials that may confirm or refute the prosecution’s version of events.
The High Anti-Corruption Court extended the pretrial detention of one of the defendants in the case against businessman Kostyantyn Zhevago regarding the alleged provision of an unlawful benefit to the then-head of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, for another two months.
Prior to this, the preventive measure against former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Vsevolod Knyazev was extended. The court extended the term of the procedural obligations imposed on him.
We previously reported that the charitable foundation of the leader of the “European Solidarity” party, People’s Deputy Petro Poroshenko, paid the 9 million hryvnia bail for Roman Chervinsky, a former employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
We also recall that former Supreme Court Chairman Vladislav Knyazev was stopped near the village of Solotvyno in Zakarpattia, close to the border with Romania.
