Ex-justice official sentenced to 5 years for bribery

This is the former head of the registration service of the Berezhansky District Department of Justice in the Ternopil region.

In January 2015, the deputy director of a farm approached the district justice department to register 90 land lease agreements. The head of the registration service learned about this and forbade his subordinate state registrar from registering the agreements, threatening disciplinary action. In return, he demanded that the state registrar give him a bribe from the farm — $20 for each agreement.

On May 27, 2015, the head of the registration service received 44,000 hryvnias from a subordinate, after which he was exposed.

The trial lasted for more than 9 years. The accused denied his guilt. He claimed that he had no authority to impose administrative penalties on his subordinate, could not put pressure on him or prohibit him from carrying out registration actions regarding contracts. According to him, the subordinate's statement is far-fetched. The former official also reported that the subordinate allegedly returned a debt of $1,800 to him on the basis of a receipt that he issued in the presence of two witnesses. He called what happened a provocation, and the results of secret investigative actions falsified. He stated that the SBU allegedly provided selective recordings of conversations.

The applicant informed the court that there were no debts between him and the accused.

The defense secured the appearance of a witness who claimed that the loan receipt was signed in his presence.

As a result, the court critically assessed the defense version. The fact of debt obligations between the applicant and the accused was found unproven. The applicant denied receiving a loan of money and signing a receipt. A copy of the receipt attached to the materials of the court proceedings, in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, cannot serve as evidence of the conclusion of a loan agreement.

In addition, the records of the meeting show that the accused had in mind the illegal benefit. When receiving the money, he repeatedly asked the interlocutor whether the money was not marked. During the conversation, he insisted that it should be the entire amount that was discussed, not less, and he also did not object to the amount in hryvnia equivalent. Having taken the money, he told his subordinate that he could sit down and make contracts.

The accused was sentenced to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property and a ban on holding certain positions in state authorities for a period of 3 years.

We will remind, it was previously reported that People's Deputy Hunko was sentenced to 7 years with confiscation.

We also wrote that the Appeals Court will consider the appeal against the sentence of the SBU operative.