Position: Head of the Commercial Court of Lviv Region.
Sphere of corruption: judicial.
Region of corruption activity: Lviv city, Lviv region.
Qualification: Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: in custody.
Case story: in December 2024, NABU and SAPO reported suspicions to the former and current head of the Commercial Court of Lviv Region of extorting and receiving illegal benefits, for which they were supposed to abuse their influence.
On the instructions of the head of the SAPO, the prosecutor, with the participation of NABU detectives, reported suspicion to the current and former chairmen of the Commercial Court of one of the regions, who were caught extorting 1 million US dollars of illegal gain from a representative of a private company. The actions of the suspects were qualified under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
The NABU said that it was about the Lviv Regional Economic Court. According to the investigation, the suspects promised to ensure the adoption of "necessary" decisions in court cases of the Western Appeal Economic Court for $ 1 million, as well as to prevent the contract killing of the whistleblower. During the investigation, detectives and prosecutors documented the transfer of part of the ill-gotten gains in the amount of $ 75 thousand.
Subsequently, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court took Vasyl Artimovich, a judge of the Lviv Regional Economic Court, into custody until February 10, 2025. An alternative to him was a 20 million UAH bail. The NABU detective and the SAPO prosecutor requested that Artimovich be arrested for two months with an alternative of a 30 million UAH bail. According to the investigation, Artimovich and the former head of the Lviv Regional Economic Court, Mykhailo Yurkevich, promised the entrepreneur $1 million to ensure the adoption of “necessary” decisions in court cases of the Western Appeal Economic Court. The defendants managed to transfer the first tranche of $75,000.
The prosecutor said that $20,000 of this amount was found with one of the judges of the Western Appeal Economic Court, and another $7,500 with the former head of the Lviv Economic Court Yurkevich, who is also a suspect in this case. The rest of the amount has not yet been found. The prosecutor added that the NABU and the SAPO are investigating other episodes related to this case.
The defense objected to granting the motion. The lawyers argued that Artymovych had now resigned from his position as the court chairman, which was supported at a meeting of judges. And the High Council of Justice suspended him from considering cases until February 9, 2025. In their opinion, there are no risks of obstructing the investigation, and the amount of bail is excessive.
The motion is partially granted. To apply a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of 60 days to the suspect Artimovich Vasyl Mykhailovych, i.e. until February 10, 2025 inclusive.
At the same time, Artymovych was given an alternative preventive measure in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 20 million.
In January 2025, it became known that the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court left Vasyl Artimovych in custody, but reduced the bail amount set as an alternative from UAH 20 to UAH 10 million.
The Appellate Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice considered the appeals of the defense lawyers against the rulings of the investigative judges of the Supreme Court of Justice dated 13.12.2024 and 23.12.2024 on the application of preventive measures in the form of detention with the alternative of paying 20 million UAH and 12 million UAH to the former chairman of the Commercial Court of one of the regions and a retired judge of the same court. Regarding the former chairman of the Commercial Court of one of the regions: based on the results of the consideration, the panel of judges of the Supreme Court of Justice partially satisfied the appeal of the defense, canceled the ruling of the investigator of the Supreme Court of Justice and issued a new ruling, which reduced the amount of bail for the suspect to 10 million UAH. Regarding the retired judge of the Commercial Court of one of the regions: based on the results of the consideration, the panel of judges of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the defense lawyer's appeal, and left the ruling of the investigative judge of the Supreme Court of Justice unchanged
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: former chairman, retired judge of the Commercial Court of Lviv Region Mykhailo Yurkevich.
In December 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court took into custody the former chairman, retired judge of the Commercial Court of Lviv Region, Mykhailo Yurkevich, with the alternative of UAH 12 million in bail.
The motion is partially granted. To apply a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of 60 days to the suspect Mykhailo Vasyliovych Yurkevich, i.e. until February 20, 2025 inclusive. To take the suspect Yurkevich into custody immediately in the courtroom
At the same time, an alternative was determined for the suspect Yurkevich in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 12 million. If the funds are deposited, he will be released from custody and will be assigned a number of obligations: to arrive at the first request; not to leave the Lviv region without permission; to report a change of residence and work; to refrain from communicating with another suspect and the persons specified in the decision; to hand over foreign passports and wear an electronic bracelet.
Assets: In his 2023 tax return, Artymovych listed four apartments and a garage. He also declared a 2008 HYUNDAI ELANTRA and a 2019 SCODA Superb.
He indicated that he received UAH 1,487,012 in salary. Artymovych, in particular, has $60,000 and UAH 55,000 in cash.
Persons who should have reacted: in the case of Artymovych, law enforcement officers reacted in a timely manner.
Scandals: There is no information in open sources about other scandals in which Artymovich would appear.
Sources:
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/635202e3-9bb6-4518-8004-71ff82c18012