High Anti-Corruption Court provides first monetary award to whistleblower

by Nate Ostiller and The Kyiv Independent news desk October 2, 2023 10:02 PM 2 min read

A view of Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 5, 2019. (Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

This audio is created with AI assistance

Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) announced on Oct. 2 that it had ruled to pay Hr 13.3 million (about $360,000) to a whistleblower in the case of a $6 million bribe attempted by a former first deputy of the Kyiv State Fiscal Service back in 2020.

The case against the former deputy, Mykola Iliashenko, is the first example of a corruption-related whistleblower receiving a monetary award for their role in prosecuting a crime.

Iliashenko was one of three individuals involved in a plan in 2020 to bribe Ukraine's top anti-corruption officials Nazar Kholodnitskiy, head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), and Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

The $6 million dollar payment was supposed to put an end to a state investigation into one of Viktor Yanukovych-era ecology minister Mykola Zlochevsky allegedly illegal enrichment schemes.

The scheme was the biggest reported bribe attempt in Ukrainian history.

The officials went along with the bribe, faking the case's termination in order to lure the corrupt officials into handing over the $6 million. Kholodnitskiy and Sytnyk then ordered the arrest of Iliashenko and two of Zlochevsky's aides.

According to a law that came into effect in 2020, whistleblowers are entitled to 10% of the associated total figure in a corruption case.

Although the court's announcement did not identify the individual, the whistleblower himself described his involvement in the case and the monetary award he received.

Yevhen Shevchenko, the whistleblower, wrote on Facebook that Hr 50 million ($1.3 million) that the defendant was forced to pay as part of the settlement was donated to Ukraine's military and that he had received Hr 13.3 million (about $360,000) as a reward.

The HACC was created in 2018 to prosecute high-profile corruption cases.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the court has prosecuted a number of high-profile corruption cases, including the confiscation of assets of collaborator Volodymyr Saldo, a Ukrainian politician who defected to Russia and was placed in charge of the occupied part of southern Kherson Oblast.

Authors: Nate Ostiller, The Kyiv Independent news desk

Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.

Freedom can be costly. Both Ukraine and its journalists are paying a high price for their independence. Support independent journalism in its darkest hour. Support us for as little as $1, and it only takes a minute.

Comments

News Feed

11:01 PM

Military intelligence: 2 locomotives destroyed in Russia.

Two diesel locomotives have been destroyed in Russia over the past few days, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on April 28.

9:03 PM

Russia detains 2 journalists on 'extremism' charges, accuses them of having worked with Navalny.

Two Russian journalists were detained on "extremism" charges in Russia on April 28 for having allegedly worked for a group founded by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

8:01 PM

Polish FM: Returning draft-aged men to Ukraine is 'ethically ambiguous.'

Returning men of draft age to Ukraine is "ethically ambiguous" and Ukraine will thus have to "take the in initiative" in the process, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with Polish channel TVN24 on April 27.

5:58 PM

DTEK: Russia has attacked Ukraine's thermal power plants nearly 180 times since the start of full-scale invasion.

Moscow has recently intensified its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's critical infrastructure, launching large-scale attacks on energy facilities across the country on March 22, March 29, April 11, and April 27.

5:36 PM

Syrskyi: Ukrainian forces retreat west from 3 villages in Donetsk Oblast.

The villages are in the Pokrovsk District in the western part of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, which remains one of the hottest sectors of the front line as Russia continues its offensive.

4:05 PM

Polish FM: Trump's stance on Ukraine is 'not as black and white.'

Radoslaw Sikorski said he hoped that Donald Trump realized that opposition to helping Ukraine "is not actually popular in the U.S." and is harming his chances to be re-elected.

2:48 PM

Russian attacks in Kharkiv Oblast injure 2 civilians.

Russian troops struck the cities of Kupiansk and Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on April 28, injuring two people, local authorities reported.

2:00 PM

Border Guard: Bodies of 2 men pulled out of Tysa River.

Ukrainian border guards found the bodies of two men in the Tysa River in Zakarpattia Oblast on the evening of April 27, the State Border Guard Service reported.

1:26 PM

Prosecutor's Office: Over 2,500 gambling websites blocked in Ukraine.

More than 2,500 gambling websites that had operated without a license were blocked in Ukraine as of April 27, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.

12:05 PM

Russia claims 17 drones shot down, including near Kaluga Oblast's oil depot.

Two drones were shot down over Belgorod Oblast, three over Kursk Oblast, three over Kaluga Oblast, and nine over Bryansk Oblast overnight on April 28, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed.

11:18 AM

Russian stabbed to death two Ukrainian soldiers in Germany.

The men born in 1987 and 2001 were in a medical rehabilitation in Germany.

10:06 AM

Russia attacks Ukraine with 9 drones overnight, damaging hotel in Mykolaiv.

Russia attacked Ukraine with nine drones overnight on April 28, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported. Five of them were shot down by the Ukrainian forces.

9:26 AM

General Staff: Russia has lost 466,150 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022.

This number includes 1,096 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on April 28.

6:06 AM

Tajikistan recommends its citizens refrain from traveling to Russia.

A Russian law enforcement officer patrols near the Crocus City Hall concert hall outside Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024, after the terrorist attack that killed at least 144 people. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

3:32 AM

Russia attacks 10 communities in Sumy Oblast.

Russian forces attacked 10 communities along the Sumy Oblast border on April 27, causing 112 explosions throughout the day, the regional military administration reported.

1:30 AM

Ombudsman: Red Cross 'playing along with Russian aggression'.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is "playing along with Russian aggression," Ukraine's Chief Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on April 27.

11:59 PM

Medvedev threatens Russia may seize private US assets if Washington seizes frozen Russian reserves.

Russia could seize assets and property of U.S. individuals held in Russia if Washington confiscates Russian sovereign assets, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, threatened on April 27.

11:28 PM

Russian media: Russia's Krasnodar Krai oil refinery 'partially suspends' operations after drone attack.

A Russian oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Krasnodar Krai partially suspended operations following a purported Ukrainian drone attack, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported on April 27.

10:52 PM

Politico: Zelensky told Johnson Ukraine could only hold on until 'March or April' without US aid.

Politico wrote that when Volodymyr Zelensky met Mike Johnson in the speaker's office last December, he provided him with a deadline for how long Ukraine could hold on without Washington's backing.

9:54 PM

Naftogaz: Russia's morning attack targeted gas infrastructure.

The Naftogaz Group did not specify in what oblasts the targeted gas facilities were located, nor what the full consequences of the attack were.

9:10 PM

Russian attacks on Nikopol district injure 2 women.

Russian attacks against the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on April 27 injured two women aged 88 and 40, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

8:44 PM

WSJ: Putin likely did not directly order Navalny's death, US intelligence says.

The finding does not indicate that Vladimir Putin is not guilty of Alexei Navalny's death, only that he did not order it at that moment, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

8:18 PM

Military denies media report about pulling Abrams tanks from front.

"The tanks are doing a great job on the battlefield, and we are definitely not going to hide from the enemy what makes them hide. Furthermore, we will not leave our infantry without powerful fire support," the unit that operates the American tanks said on Telegram.

7:51 PM

Zelensky dismisses Kyiv Oblast official detained over car accident.

Volodymyr Maibozhenko, the head of the Brovary District Military Administration in Kyiv Oblast, was dismissed from his post, according to a presidential decree issued on April 27.

7:29 PM

Military: Russia gains foothold in Ocheretyne in Donetsk Oblast.

"The part (of Ocheretyne) in which the enemy is located is under our fire control. All steps are being taken to push the enemy out of there," Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, said on April 27.

MORE NEWS