"Just stunning prospects": whistleblower reveals how Knyazev sold Supreme Court decisions

"Just stunning prospects": whistleblower reveals how Knyazev sold Supreme Court decisions

Whistleblower Oleksiy Honchar, who calls himself the cashier of the former head of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev, revealed how the latter sold court decisions. According to him, Knyazev loved money from the very beginning of their acquaintance, though at first, he was "very modest" and took $500 for rulings. Everything changed after he was elected to the new Supreme Court and became the secretary of the Grand Chamber.

About this, Honchar spoke in an interview with Bihus.info. b              

“This was already a different Knyazev, a peacock of sorts. A lord in the worst sense of the word. A king is made by his entourage, and when you have a bunch of servants around you, all saying that you are the best, the greatest, the most exceptional, a person quickly becomes morally bloated, and it feels like he has been in that chair his whole life,” Honchar said.

According to him, Knyazev is very competent and very intelligent, which is why he got into the Supreme Court through a competition, without connections or money. Since he was one of the few who knew English, he was chosen as secretary. Honchar added that after being elected, Knyazev once told him that “simply stunning prospects” had opened up and that he would “very soon become a multimillionaire,” and offered him to help with clients.

The first bribe Knyazev received, as Honchar noted, was related to a case involving the Illichivsk Port. In 2005, the state signed a joint activity agreement with a company of a Russian State Duma deputy. He invested about $80 million there, but the agreement was later terminated. After that, the case went to court.

“They litigated and litigated, the Russians lost all the courts, and the case seemed to fade away. Then, seemingly by complete coincidence, I was in Illichivsk, and representatives of the Russians approached me, saying: ‘Listen, isn’t there a way to turn this whole case around?’ So, I told them, look, Sева, it’s a Russian terminal, a port, and so on. He was like: ‘Who cares…’ And he takes the case from the economic court of the Supreme Court to the Grand Chamber… He says: ‘Alright, here’s 200, and I’ll send you the decision now.’ I text him a plus. And he sends me the operative part, a photo, showing that such-and-such decisions are canceled, and the case is closed,” Honchar recounted.

The second case concerned the estate of Andriy Klyuyev. At one point, the prosecutor’s office challenged the allocation of 20 hectares of land in Koncha Zaspa in court.

“Klyuyev won the first instance, won the second instance. And the case turned into a major precedent-setting matter. So, Klyuyev’s lawyer comes to me and says: ‘Can you ask the esteemed person?’ And I say: ‘Can we?’ I ask. He [Klyuyev] says: ‘Listen, this issue stinks, so it will probably cost a lot.’ And I ask: ‘How much is a lot?’ I don’t remember exactly, but it was around $400,000. I say: ‘Why so expensive?’ He says: ‘Well, look, firstly, we have three judges from the Grand Chamber who are from Western Ukraine, and they have a principled stance. I won’t be able to convince them.’ And what? He says, ‘I’ll send someone on a business trip, someone will go on vacation, so to speak, meaning I’ve arranged it so they won’t be at the chamber’s session.’ They agree among themselves, and $400,000 is brought to him. At the next session – that’s it, the land is Klyuyev’s,” Oleksiy Honchar recounts.

Oleksiy Honchar filed a complaint with NABU against the former head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, Oleksiy Salnikov. According to the investigation, Salnikov received a bribe of $7,500, of which $5,000 was supposed to be passed on to Supreme Court judges. On August 6, 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court found him guilty under Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“abuse of influence”). He was sentenced to 3 years in prison and a 3-year ban on holding positions in state and local government bodies.

Additionally, Oleksiy Honchar is a whistleblower in the case of Volodymyr Orlov, the former first deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, who is accused of demanding a $200,000 bribe for permission to formalize a 19-hectare land plot. The case emerged in 2024 and is based on the testimony of NABU agent Oleksiy Honchar. The investigation is being conducted by NABU and SAPO, with hearings taking place in the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).