"The member of the Ternopil Region Council received 15 thousand hryvnias of illegal gain." "She offered to give her 150 thousand US dollars, writing the amount on a napkin." "Being the director of the Kolomyia school... for selfish motives, he received illegal gain in the form of metal-plastic construction materials."
These are the quotes from court verdicts in 2024. The stories about officials who turn their offices into "cash desks", police officers who neglect the law and doctors selling diagnoses are so common that media headlines about corruption do not surprise many people. However, what happens after the information becomes public?
The Suspilne investigative editorial office has analyzed more than 150 verdicts of the Ukrainian courts of first instance. These verdicts were delivered in 2024 under two corruption articles of the Criminal Code: 368-5 (illegal enrichment) and 368 (acceptance of unlawful benefit). Our goal was to find out whether there are real penalties, how often defendants enter into plea agreements with prosecutors, and what money sums are mentioned in these criminal cases.
Medical assistance to a war veteran: fifty-fifty
Andrii Zakharchuk is from the village of Pyshkivtsi, Buchach district, Ternopil region. He was a participant in both Maidan revolutions, and in 2015, he defended Ukraine during the war in the east. After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, he returned to the front. In 2023, he turned 60 and retired from the military service.
That same year, the ex-military underwent surgery and needed money for rehabilitation, so he asked for help his fellow villager, the member of the region council and head of the Ternopil Region Council’s budget committee, Oleh Shchyhol.
The regional budget provides for the so-called "deputy funds": a regional comprehensive program of social support for vulnerable segments of the population. Each member of the regional council can use this money to help voters, for example, for medical treatment.
Each of the council members can provide 84 thousand hryvnias of assistance from the regional budget per year. The chairperson of the regional council approves the allocation of funds.
Andrii Zakharchuk says that in 2023, he received 53,000 hryvnias from the Ternopil Region Council, but kept only 10,000 hryvnias for himself. He gave the rest of the money to the council member.
In January 2024, the former military again addressed his fellow villager to get money for medical treatment. This time it was about 30 thousand from the budget. According to Zakharchuk, Oleh Shchyhol set a condition to divide the money in half, "If you get 30 thousand, then half is mine".
Zakharchuk contacted the law enforcement. In March 2024, 30,000 hryvnias were transferred to his bank account, and a few days later, the ex-military met with the council member and handed him the promised half — 15,000 hryvnias. During this, Shchyhol was detained by the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The member of the council was charged under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — accepting an offer, promise or receiving an illegal benefit by an official. The crime is punishable by a fine, probation, or imprisonment for up to 12 years with confiscation of property. The punishment is affected by the received amount and the position of the person committing the crime.
Shchyhol pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutor. As a result, his punishment was a fine of 68 thousand hryvnias and a two-year ban on holding positions related to the performance of state or local government functions. Shchyhol was dismissed from the position of the chairperson of the budget commission of the Ternopil Region Council. However, the dismissal decision states that he resigned of his own free will. By the way, the position of the chairperson of the budget commission is paid. According to his tax declaration, Shchyhol earned more than 760 thousand hryvnias from it in 2023.
Oleg Shchyhol was also deprived of his member of council mandate. In his last tax declaration, he indicated that he was working at the Buchach City Hospital, where he had previously been the chief physician from 2016 to 2020.
Oleg Shchyhol refused to comment to the Suspilne. He answered all questions the same way, "I am not interested".
Doctors, judges, and university lecturers: who else, besides council members, was sentenced by courts?
In addition to Oleh Shchyhol, three more council members were sentenced in corruption cases in 2024. At least six verdicts were delivered to doctors who traded diagnoses to avoid military service, setting prices from 3,200 hryvnias to 2,000 US dollars. Customs officers (7 cases), patrol police officers (8 cases), judges (5 cases), and lecturers at Ukrainian universities were also tried for corruption.
For example, Yaroslav Yarosh, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Energy at the Polissia National University in Zhytomyr, received USD 400 from a second-year student for grades.
The court fined the dean with 51 thousand hryvnias and banned him from holding managerial positions at universities for a year and a half. The position of the dean of the faculty is defined by law as one that belongs to the management. However, on the university’s website we found a photo under which it is stated: "Yarosh Yaroslav Dmytrovych, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Energy".
Ivan Martynchuk, the vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work of the Polissia National University, told us that Yarosh had resigned a few weeks before, and the photo on the website was not removed in time. After our phone call, the photo of the ex-dean is no longer there.
According to the court verdict, Yuliia Fisun, the acting deputy dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, demanded a USD 400 bribe. In return, she promised to write and help defend the thesis, noting that the student could pay the amount in installments.
The deputy dean was detained receiving USD 200. The court approved the agreement with the prosecutor concluded by Fisun, and sentenced her to a fine of 17 thousand hryvnias and a one-year ban on holding positions related to organizational, managerial, and administrative-economic functions. Yuliia Fisun was dismissed from the position of the deputy dean, but her career at the National Aviation University continues — she is currently the associate professor at the Department of Marketing.
A similar story took place at the Sumy National Agrarian University. Andrii Butenko, the deputy dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology and Environmental Management, received 7,000 hryvnias from a student for an individual schedule and grades.
Butenko signed a plea agreement with the prosecutor, and the court fined him with 25,000 hryvnias and banned from holding managerial positions for a year. Now Butenko is the associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Technologies and Soil Science.
From windows to hundreds of thousands USD: bribes tried in courts in 2024
Of the 151 verdicts under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2024 that we found in the register of court decisions, the amount of the largest bribe was 300 thousand euros.
In 2016, Pavlo Zubov, the head of the Hvozdiv village council in Kyiv region, and council member Oleksandr Shalamai promised to lease 26 hectares of land for 300,000 euros and 10,000 dollars. Zubov’s motives are explained by the quote from his telephone conversation, which was used as evidence against him in the case:
"You do not know how much effort we put into doing these specific things. You see, you do not know. And I am already sick and tired of not taking money."
Both the village head and the council member were sentenced to 9 years in prison with the confiscation of half of their property in 2024, eight years after their arrest. However, the advocate has filed an appeal against the verdict, which will be considered by the Supreme Court.
Olena Polishchuk, the former head of one of the sections of the State Property Management Department of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, was also convicted this year. In 2016, she was supposed to help win a bidding procedure for the sale of property of the bankrupt state enterprise "Oberih" in Kharkiv region for USD 150,000. She was sentenced to 8 years in prison and confiscation of property. However, the sentence has not yet entered into force, as Polishchuk’s defense lawyers have filed an appeal.
In 2022, Ihor Plekhov, the mayor of Reni in Odesa region, together with former city council member Ivan Poidolov, demanded USD 100,000 for the lease of two and a half hectares of municipal land. In 2024, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court sentenced Plekhov to 9 years in prison and his accomplice to 10 years with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold positions in local self-government bodies and state authorities for 3 years.
However, the verdict was appealed and will be considered by the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court. Currently, Ihor Plekhov still heads the Reni City Council.
Ivan Poidolov was tried in absentia, as he left the country at the end of 2023 and is on the international wanted list. However, his wife Oksana Poidolova disagreed with the verdict. The woman wants the court to partially lift the seizure of her husband’s property in her interests.
There were also more "modest" bribes. In particular, the director of the Kolomyia school in Ivano-Frankivsk region received 8 metal-plastic windows from a contractor in exchange for signing a certificate of the performed work, which was not actually completed.
Veterinarian Hennadii Vasyliv, who monitored compliance with sanitary standards at a border checkpoint in Ivano-Frankivsk region, was tried for a bribe of 600 hryvnias.
Both were fined: the school director — with 51,000 hryvnias and the veterinarian — with 17,000. They were also banned from working in the positions, in which they took bribes, for a year.
What awaits corrupt officials after exposure?
"Some cases end with plea agreements, some are reclassified at the pre-trial investigation stage, and some cases do not go to trial for procedural reasons," says Viktor Dasiuk, the lawyer at "Armada" law company.
Criminal cases can be closed due to violations during the pre-trial investigation. According to the expert, this most often happens when law enforcement officers do not collect the evidence within the specified time. Insufficient evidence also leads acquittals.
In 2024, in 22 cases out of 151, the defendants were found not guilty. However, 20 of these verdicts have not yet entered into force due to appeals.
In 36 cases out of 151 analyzed by us, the suspects pleaded guilty and reached plea agreements with prosecutors. For example, Olena Zakharchuk, a dermatologist and member of the military medical commission, helped to avoid military service military service for USD 3,500. She signed a plea agreement and was fined 136,000 hryvnias.
Fines were imposed as punishment on corrupt officials in 70 cases, that is, in almost half of the analyzed cases.
"With this type of punishment, a person continues to work and maintain family ties, which contributes to rehabilitation. However, it is obvious that the fine itself is not enough as a punishment. A comprehensive approach is needed for correction. For example, along with the fine, a ban on holding certain positions, confiscation of the acquired property, etc. must be applied. It is important that the offender does not simply pay money, but understands the inadmissibility of the committed crime," adds Viktor Dasiuk.
Ukrainian courts also resorted to the highest penalty provided for in articles for corruption crimes: imprisonment in 27 cases. However, so far only 8 of them have come into force.
Dmytro Velychko, the junior inspector of the Horodyshche correctional colony in Rivne region, will spend 5 years behind bars. He gave the convict three phones for a bribe of 2,100 hryvnias, and for 1,500 hryvnias, he agreed to smuggle psychotropic and narcotic substances into the colony.
Anatolii Zavadskyi, the former deputy director of the financial and economic department of PJSC "State Food-Grain Corporation of Ukraine", was sentenced to the longest term in 2024 under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In 2014, he organized a scheme in which grain owned by the State Food-Grain Corporation was sold at undervalued prices to an international grain trader. As a result, the state-owned company suffered losses of USD 60 million.
Zavadskyi was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a 17,000 hryvnia fine, and confiscation of his property. However, he filed an appeal, so the sentence has not yet come into force.
Illegal enrichment of the Rivne Region Council member
In November 2023, the law enforcement detained Vitalii Sukhovych, the member of the Rivne Region Council, deputy head of the Polissia Forestry Office of "Forests of Ukraine", and former head of the Rivne regional forestry and hunting department. He was accused of over 108 million hryvnias of illegal gains, which exceeded his legal income by 98 million.
During the search, four million dollars in cash, three luxury cars, gold bars, expensive watches, and assets registered to front persons were found.
Sukhovych was charged with Article 368-5 (illegal enrichment), which provides for a sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison. However, in May 2024, he signed a plea agreement with the prosecutor. The court released him from serving the main sentence of 5 years in prison and sentenced him to 3 years of probation.
As soon as the verdict came into force, Sukhovych was deprived of his member of council mandate. In addition, in September 2024, the State Bureau of Investigation transferred 104 million hryvnias, which were confiscated from Sukhovych, to the state budget. However, he was not left without money. In the declaration upon dismissal from the state enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", which he submitted in June 2024, he indicated, in particular, USD 515 thousand in cash.
Vitalii Sukhovych is the only person who was convicted in 2024 under the article on illegal enrichment.
A plea agreement is now subject to conditions
Our analysis shows that in 2024, the most odious officials, who were caught taking bribes, did not get severe punishment. Only in 18% of cases, the Ukrainian courts of first instance imposed the most severe punishment for corruption crimes — imprisonment.
In 24% of cases, defendants entered into plea agreements with prosecutors and thus received a lighter sentence.
The procedure for concluding agreements with prosecutors has been in use for several years, but this year it has become more complicated for corrupt officials to reach a plea agreement. In July 2024, draft law No. 11340 was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. According to the MPs, it had to improve this procedure. However, the draft caused criticism. Allegedly, according to it, criminals could receive a possibility to legally pay to avoid prison. Then a group of MPs registered new draft No. 12039, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted on October 29, and two days later the president signed it. The law introduced amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine.
From now on, suspects or accused of corruption crimes committed in complicity can conclude an agreement with the prosecutor only if they expose another person in committing a corruption offense. Both those who committed the crime in complicity and those who did it independently must also fully compensate for the caused damage or harm in order to reach an agreement with the prosecutor.
The amendments also provide for a fine as an additional punishment for corruption crimes, regardless of whether it is provided for by the sanction of the incriminated article. Thus, for a non-severe crime, the court may impose a fine starting from 340 thousand hryvnias. In the case of a particularly serious violation, the penalty may reach 102 million hryvnias.
However, the adopted changes are not perfect, says Pavlo Demchuk, the legal advisor to Transparency International Ukraine:
"One of the gaps is the lack of provisions on special confiscation of illegally acquired assets that a criminal can record on front persons or relatives. The law also does not regulate the risks that may arise for both parties. The suspect or accused must give up other accomplices (in order to make a deal with the prosecutor — Ed.), respectively, he/she may suffer some harm to own life or health. There is also a risk that such incriminating testimony will not be accepted by the court."
