HQCJ "forgave" everything: HACC judge’s assistant Yuriy Bodnaruk, previously banned by international experts, recognized as honest

HQCJ "forgave" everything: HACC judge’s assistant Yuriy Bodnaruk, previously banned by international experts, recognized as honest

The Higher Qualification Commission of Judges has recognized Yuriy Bodnaruk as having confirmed his ability to administer justice in the court of appeal of general jurisdiction.

This decision appears at least contrasting, as earlier Bodnaruk tried to get into HACC, but then both HQCJ and the Public Council of International Experts did not let him through.

Bodnaruk works as an assistant judge of HACC. In 2020, the candidate for the appeal became the owner of a premises that he bought for 1.17 million UAH as «creative workshop», and later converted it into a residential premises. According to documents, the building should have only 12 floors, according to the plan — 13, and Bodnaruk’s apartment is on the 14th, which means there are all signs of illegal construction. However, the candidate had no ethical concerns about this.

According to GRME calculations, over 12 years, Bodnaruk’s official income was enough to live on only 4 dollars a day. How to buy a car and real estate under such conditions? An interesting question.

The candidate had as many as three versions of the origin of the funds. First, he said there were savings recorded in the 2015 declaration (which he «could not find», although it is in the NAZK registry). Only there weren’t enough funds in it. Then he explained it as family help. At the interview with VRP, a third version appeared: allegedly the money was physically kept by his parents in Mykolaiv, so he did not declare them because they were not with him. Confirmations, as you guessed, he did not provide.

 And the most interesting thing, Bodnaruk could not «remember» for a long time who recommended him in 2019 for the position of head of the precinct election commission. Then it turned out that it was Kivalov — president of the Odesa Law Academy, where Bodnaruk worked at the department.

Formally, the previous decision does not automatically determine the result of the new competition. But the questions about the candidate’s integrity have not gone away. Whether such a judge will be a guarantee of a fair appeal — a rhetorical question.