Ukraine expands Supreme Court bribery probe tied to oligarch Zhevago

Ukraine's top anti-corruption agencies say they have widened a sweeping bribery investigation tied to the former chairman of the Supreme Court, alleging that several senior judges accepted illicit payments in exchange for a ruling favoring a powerful businessman.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, known as NABU, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, or SAPO, said the expanded probe now includes three sitting Supreme Court judges and one retired judge.

Investigators allege that, while serving on the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, the judges received improper benefits connected to a high-stakes corporate dispute involving the owner of the Finance and Credit group — Kostyantyn Zhevago.

Zhevago, who owns the London-listed iron ore producer Ferrexpo, has faced a series of criminal investigations in Ukraine dating back to 2019, when authorities opened proceedings against him, alleging he had embezzled Hr 2.5 billion ($113 million) from the Finance and Credit Bank.

Ukrainian investigators have accused Zhevago and former executives of Finance and Credit Bank of organizing fraudulent lending schemes worth billions of hryvnias through offshore structures between 2007 and 2015. Prosecutors allege that the bank guaranteed loans for affiliated offshore companies, ultimately losing millions when the companies defaulted, and the bank collapsed into insolvency.

Zhevago and his legal team have consistently denied wrongdoing. The investigations have dragged on for years without reaching trial.

Prosecutors also identified Zhevago as the businessman alleged to have financed the 2023 bribery scheme involving former Supreme Court Chairman Vsevolod Kniaziev. Kniaziev was charged with accepting a $2.7 million bribe in May 2023. He was dismissed from his position through a vote of no confidence.

In 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on Zhevago and several other prominent businessmen on accusations linked to national security and alleged business ties benefiting Russia.

The anti-corruption bureau has now gone public with new revelations tied to Zhevago and Kniaziev.

The Grand Chamber, the country's highest judicial panel, had been reviewing a years-long dispute over a 40.19% stake in the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. Former shareholders had challenged the legality of a 2002 share purchase by the businessman.

According to investigators, the businessman sought to prevent the loss of the shares by arranging, through an intermediary, the transfer of $2.7 million in March and April 2023 to a lawyer described by prosecutors as part of the Supreme Court's so-called "back office." The money was allegedly intended for the former chairman and other Supreme Court judges in exchange for a favorable ruling.