Position: Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.
Sphere of corruption: judicial.
Region of corruption activity: Kyiv city.
Qualification: actions are qualified under Part 2 of Article 15, Part 4 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 369, Part 2 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: at large.
Case story: in July 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported the suspicion to the Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, Oleksiy Salnikov.
On July 24, 2023, under the procedural guidance of SAPO prosecutors, NABU detectives reported suspicion of incitement to provide undue benefit to Supreme Court judges for making a decision in favor of a commercial enterprise and of taking possession of someone else's property by deceiving the head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine. His actions are qualified under Part 2 of Art. 15, Part 4 of Art. 27, Part 4 of Art. 369, Part 2 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
According to the investigation, the head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine received $7,500 from an individual in March 2023. He was supposed to keep part of these funds for himself, and $5,000 was supposedly transferred to the judges of the Supreme Court for making a decision in the interests of a commercial enterprise.
In the future, the head of the State Judicial Administration promised to assist in the decision of the Supreme Court judges, in particular by involving its former head, Vsevolod Knyazev. However, after the former head of the Supreme Court was exposed for receiving an illegal benefit, Salnikov's behavior changed dramatically and he began to evade resolving the issue, although he had no intention of returning the illegal benefit he had received.
Subsequently, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court set bail for the head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, Oleksiy Salnikov, in the amount of UAH 805,200.
The SAPO requested that Salnikov be granted bail in the amount of UAH 1.07 million. The justification stated that Salnikov's salary over the past three years had been over UAH 3.5 million. He also declared that he had UAH 1 million in cash.
As explained by the HACC, in the event of a bail of UAH 805,200, the head of the State Judicial Administration will have to comply with a number of obligations, in particular: wear an electronic bracelet, and also not communicate with witnesses, including the Chairman of the Cassation Administrative Court Smokovich, as well as judges Starodub, Kovalenko, and Kravchuk.
Salnikov added that he promises not to hide, not to influence witnesses, and is ready to take an active position to refute all the accusations of the investigation.
In early August 2025, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court found former head of the State Judicial Administration, Oleksiy Salnikov, guilty of abuse of influence. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
According to them, Salnikov was found guilty of abuse of influence, reclassified as a crime of inciting a person to bribery. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison with a ban on holding certain positions for 3 years after imprisonment.
On August 6, the panel of judges of the HACC announced a verdict against the former head of the State Judicial Administration, according to which it found him guilty of committing a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of influence). The accused was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold positions in state and local government bodies for a period of 3 years. Along with this, the specified person was found not guilty of committing an offense under Part 2 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
Subsequently, the Supreme Court of Ukraine refused to reinstate Oleksiy Salnikov as head of the State Judicial Administration and dismissed his lawsuit.
As is known, the High Council of Justice dismissed Salnikov from the position of Chairman of the State Judicial Administration. Therefore, he filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Ukraine to declare the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council to hold him disciplinary liable in the form of dismissal unlawful and to cancel it.
In the satisfaction of (Salnikov)'s claim to the HCJ to declare unlawful and annul the Supreme Court of Justice's decision of December 7, 2023 "On bringing the Head of the State Judicial Administration (Salnikov - ed.) to disciplinary liability in the form of dismissal from the civil service position"; reinstatement of (Salnikov) to the position of Head of the State Judicial Administration from December 8, 2023, recovery from the Supreme Court of Justice in favor of (Salnikov) the amount of average earnings for the period of forced absenteeism, - to be rejected in full
Salnikov filed an appeal against this decision. The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine opened proceedings against it.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: no information is available from open sources about possible accomplices.
Assets: in his 2023 declaration, Salnikov indicated that he has an apartment in Kyiv in joint ownership with a relative, and also rents another apartment in the capital.
In addition, Salnikov already indicated the free use of a Volkswagen Golf during a full-scale war.
Salnikov's income for the same year was UAH 1,036,044. He declared UAH 150,000 in cash.
Persons who should have responded: in the case of Salnikov, law enforcement agencies responded in a timely manner to the criminal activity.
Scandals: Journalists found out that during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Salnikov privatized an apartment in Kyiv through the court. This apartment is located on Tashkentskaya Street, where Salnikov moved in back in 2010.
At the end of 2021, Salnikov tried to privatize this apartment through the Darnytskyi district state administration in the city of Kyiv. Then he failed to do this, because the official did not have a warrant to move into this housing. This document was issued to everyone in the building since 2015, but Salnikov was forgotten. However, the official emphasized that he did not have the necessary documents for the apartment until 2021, when he started working in Kyiv. Now the company that issued these warrants has gone bankrupt, so you can only get permission to privatize the apartment through the court.
The court admitted that there had been a mistake and ruled in Salnikov's favor in October 2022. They said there was evidence that no one except Salnikov and his wife lived there, and they did not violate the rules for using communal property, so they had every reason to privatize the apartment.
Sources:
https://mezha.net/ua/bukvy/vaks-vyznav-oleksiia-salnikova-vynnym-u-zlovzhyvanni-vplyvom
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/2a4943f9-cb72-4768-a82b-e3db58326c7a