A judge of the Rivne Administrative Court was dismissed following an integrity review
Judge Andriy Sala was dismissed from his position following an integrity review. He was unable to explain the source of his family’s wealth and concealed information about a traffic accident he caused while under the influence of alcohol.
The High Council of Justice dismissed Andriy Sala, a judge of the Rivne District Administrative Court. Based on the results of the review, the official does not meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics. The Council adopted the corresponding decision on Tuesday, October 29.
The Public Integrity Council identified a number of circumstances indicating that Andriy Salo did not meet the criteria for integrity. The first observation concerned the vehicles the judge used but failed to list in his declarations.
These were two BMW X5s and a Mercedes-Benz S500. Andriy Salo was involved in a traffic accident while driving the latter on August 22, 2018. The judge also crossed the state border in a vehicle of an unknown make in December 2014 and January 2015.
Subsequent observations concerned the judge’s parents’ assets, as their official incomes did not correspond to the value of the vehicles and real estate they had purchased. This issue was previously examined in 2019, when Andriy Salo participated in the competition for a position on the High Anti-Corruption Court. At that time, his participation in the competition was terminated, in part due to doubts regarding the origin of his family’s wealth.
Between 1998 and 2018, the judge’s parents officially earned 456,200 UAH. Despite this, they purchased an apartment in Lviv worth over 1.3 million UAH and expensive cars. They also own residential and non-residential properties with a total area of over 2,700 square meters. According to the Public Council for Integrity, the judge did not provide sufficient explanations as to how his parents’ official incomes allowed them to acquire such property.
Specific questions also arose regarding a 197.9 m² house owned by the judge’s mother-in-law. Andriy Salo also failed to explain the origin of this property.
Another observation concerned violations of traffic laws. As it turned out, the judge had repeatedly driven while intoxicated. In one instance, he was found guilty of causing a traffic accident under Article 124 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. However, in 2018, the case was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired, meaning the offender could no longer be subject to administrative penalties.
At the same time, Andriy Salo concealed this fact when he stated in his 2018 integrity declaration that he had not committed any acts that could have led to his being held accountable. In his declarations for 2016 and 2017, he also noted that he had not been held administratively liable.
Furthermore, in his first declaration of family ties for 2012–2016, the judge failed to disclose that his wife and father-in-law worked as notaries.
Among other observations was Andriy Sala’s ruling in a case regarding journalists’ access to complete information about parliamentary candidates. The Public Integrity Council also drew attention to the fact that the judge overturned a decision by the Rivne City Council to appeal to then-President Viktor Yanukovych and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak regarding the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
In addition, the judge relied primarily on works by Russian and Soviet authors in his dissertation.
Based on the results of its review of the materials, the High Council of Justice ruled to dismiss Andriy Sala.
Instead of dismissal—an appeal: the controversial judge Marmash may receive a promotion.
Prior to this, the High Council of Justice had dismissed two judges.
The High Council of Justice also dismissed 105 judges during the first half of the year.
