The acting Head of the High Council of Justice Oleksiy Malovatsky and the HCJ member Pavlo Hrechkivsky have resigned. This became known following the results of the HCJ meeting on January 20.
"It is a wise decision. Both were the first members to leave the HCJ by the decision of the Ethics Council, as both of them were elected to the HCJ by the Congress of Attorneys for the second time contrary to the Constitution. I am sure that this would be enough for the Ethics Council. And besides, there was a lot more. Note that the Ethics Council has not even officially begun to review current members. And the result is already what it is. The court mafia is bulging at the seams. And this is just the beginning."
- Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chair of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation, commented on the information about the resignation of Malovatsky and Hrechkivsky.
Oleksiy Malovatsky is known for his unconstitutional appointment and unexplained income. In 2019, Malovatsky was re-elected a member of the HCJ, despite a direct constitutional ban on one person holding the post twice in a row. This was even mentioned in the opinion of the Venice Commission.
He owns a 445-square-meter apartment building near Kyiv. According to the documents, the estate was built in two months - in November-December 2012. The journalists stated that the house is equipped with a winter garden, gym, elevator and eight living rooms. According to Malovatsky's own declaration, at the time of registration, the estate was worth more than $ 260,000. It is unknown from where such funds were received by the then 33-year-old little-known lawyer.
At the end of March 2017, Oleksiy Malovatsky filed an annual declaration for 2016, stating that his family had $ 190,000 in cash. On the same day, he and his wife bought the first apartment in an elite residential complex, and 18 days later filed a revised declaration for the same year, in which the amount of cash suddenly increased to $ 420,000.
In 2016, then-Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko called Pavlo Hrechkivsky a "big fish" - the then-member of the High Council of Justice was exposed on bribery.
According to the investigation, with these funds, Hrechkivsky and his accomplice had to secure a decision in the commercial courts in favour of Bohadar LLC, a company that patented a method of making kvas and kvas wort.
According to investigative journalists from Slidstvo.Info, shortly before his arrest, Pavlo Hrechkivsky met with the then-President of the High Commercial Court, Bohdan Lvov. The Prosecutor General's Office even had recordings of telephone conversations, where a voice similar to Pavlo Hrechkivsky gave instructions on how to transfer the received funds. The CD with recordings of Grechkivsky's conversations could not be heard in court - it did not open.
In the end, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv found Hrechkivsky not guilty and ruled that all the evidence in the case was obtained as a result of provocation and could not be used in court.
Pavlo Hrechkivsky was often mentioned in NABU recordings from the office of the Head of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv Pavlo Vovk. From these recordings it follows that Hrechkivsky was close to the head of the DACK - they even drank together.
In particular, Pavlo Vovk said on the recordings that it was through Hrechkivsky that he agreed to resolve the issue of DACK judge Yevhen Ablov, whom the HCJ wanted to dismiss.
Pavlo Hrechkivskyi was also noted for being the speaker in the case of the judge-unmasker Larysa Holnyk, in which the HCJ disciplinary chamber reprimanded the judge for her Facebook post.
According to human rights activists, this was obvious persecution, which blocked her from the opportunity to participate in the competition for the High Anti-Corruption Court. The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court later overturned the HCJ's decision.
At the same time, when considering the complaint against “Maidan judge” Olena Zhuravska, Hrechkivskyi did not see any grounds even for initiating disciplinary proceedings.
You can find out about the failures of the members of the current HCJ here.
In August 2021, DEJURE Foundation, Anti-Corruption Action Center and Automaidan called on the HCJ to resign.