Position: Prosecutor of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Sphere of corrupt activity: law enforcement.
Region of corruption activity: Dnipropetrovsk region.
Qualification: actions are qualified under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 372 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: at large.
Case story: In June 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported suspicions to the deputy head of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the prosecutor of the same prosecutor's office, who were involved in the case of a lawyer caught taking a bribe.
According to media reports, this concerns Deputy Chief Prosecutor Stanislav Batrak and Prosecutor Sori Savane.
Under the procedural guidance of SAPO prosecutors, NABU detectives, with operational support from the Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police of Ukraine, exposed one of the deputy heads of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the prosecutor of the same prosecutor's office for creating artificial evidence of accusation and bringing an innocent person to criminal liability.
The Appeals Chamber set bail for Batrak at UAH 2.013 million. Later, his bail was reduced to UAH 1.51 million. The suspect's defense attorney again asked for the amount to be reduced.
As a result, the High Anti-Corruption Court reduced the bail to UAH 1.21 million, set for Batrak as a preventive measure.
The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court also found Batrak's announced suspicion of creating artificial evidence of the accusation and bringing an innocent person to criminal liability to be well-founded.
Previously, the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals found Batrak's suspicion unfounded and refused to apply a preventive measure to him. Therefore, the SAPO filed an appeal against this decision.
On June 19, 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court supported the position of the SAPO prosecutor and overturned the ruling of the investigating judge of the Supreme Administrative Court dated June 1, 2023, which recognized the suspicion of the deputy head of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of Dnipropetrovsk region as unfounded. The court of appeal issued a new ruling, which partially satisfied the motion of the NABU detectives, approved by the SAPO prosecutor. Thus, the court of appeal recognized the suspicion of the specified person as justified and applied a preventive measure to him in the form of a bail in the amount of UAH 2.013 million
In addition, the suspect was assigned a number of procedural obligations, including wearing an electronic monitoring device.
Also in June, the Appeals Chamber of the HCJ found the announced suspicion of Sori Savane in creating artificial evidence of the prosecution and bringing an innocent person to criminal liability to be well-founded.
As is known, the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals found the suspicion of the prosecutor of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office unfounded and refused to apply a preventive measure to him. Therefore, the SAPO filed an appeal against this decision.
On June 22, 2023, the Administrative Court of the Supreme Court of Criminal Procedure considered the appeal of the prosecution against the ruling of the investigating judge of the Supreme Court of Criminal Procedure dated June 7, 2023, which refused to grant the petition for the application of a preventive measure to the prosecutor of one of the district prosecutor's offices of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Following the results of the consideration, the panel of judges canceled the ruling of the investigating judge of the Supreme Court of Criminal Procedure dated June 7, 2023 and applied a preventive measure in the form of house arrest with the imposition of additional duties to the suspect
Later, the High Anti-Corruption Court suspended Sori Savane from the position of prosecutor of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of the Dnipropetrovsk region until October 30.
In the same case, NABU and SAPO exposed lawyer Oleksiy Pedus, who incited a person to provide him with an illegal benefit allegedly for resolving an issue with prosecutors of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of Dnipropetrovsk Region. In the same case, detectives and prosecutors established new circumstances of the offense.
According to the investigation, the suspect, lawyer Pedus, under the pretext of fulfilling his obligations to provide legal assistance, had a criminal intent to organize the criminal prosecution of a knowingly innocent person.
To implement this plan, he involved one of the heads of the district prosecutor's office and the prosecutor of this prosecutor's office. In accordance with the assigned roles, the prosecutors artificially created evidence of the accusation, on the basis of which an innocent person was brought to criminal liability for the illegal manufacture and sale of low-alcohol beverages. On May 30 and June 1, 2023, the deputy head of the prosecutor's office and the prosecutor were notified of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 372 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
In addition, attorney Pedus was additionally notified of suspicion of organizing criminal liability by the prosecutor, combined with the artificial creation of evidence for the prosecution, committed in prior conspiracy by a group of individuals.
In May 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court took Pedus into custody, who was exposed by the NABU and SAPO for inciting to provide an illegal benefit to a person who holds one of the leading positions in the Dnipropetrovsk region prosecutor's office.
On May 20, the investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court applied a preventive measure of detention for a period of 60 days to a lawyer from Dnipro. As an alternative, the judge set him bail in the amount of 1 million 73 thousand 600 UAH
If bail is posted, the lawyer will be required to: appear at the first summons; not leave the locality in which he resides without permission; report any change in his place of residence and work; refrain from communicating with persons specified in the court order; surrender his foreign passports and wear an electronic bracelet.
Subsequently, the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to consider the motion to change the preventive measure of lawyer Oleksiy Pedus, since the case allegedly did not fall within the jurisdiction of the High Anti-Corruption Court.
As indicated, the SAPO prosecutor has changed the suspicion to lawyer Oleksiy Pedus. He is now additionally suspected of organizing the creation of artificial evidence of the prosecution and bringing to criminal responsibility an innocent person, namely Ruslan Gusev, together with the deputy head of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Stanislav Batrak, and the prosecutor of this prosecutor's office, Sori Savane.
The lawyer is also suspected of fraudulently embezzling $240,000 from the applicant in the case. As the investigation established, Pedus was Ruslan Gusev's defense attorney. During the search, $240,000 was seized from Gusev. The court did not seize these funds and issued a ruling to return them to lawyer Pedus as Gusev's representative. However, Pedus did not return these funds.
Due to the increased risks, the SAPO prosecutor requested to arrest Pedus with the alternative of UAH 10.73 million in bail. However, the court closed the proceedings on this request. According to the investigating judge of the High Court of Criminal Appeals, Oleg Tkachenko, the specified case is not subject to the jurisdiction of the anti-corruption court.
The SAPO prosecutor has already filed an appeal against this decision.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: lawyer Oleksiy Pedus, Deputy Head of the Slobozhansk District Prosecutor's Office of the Dnipropetrovsk Region Stanislav Batrak.
Assets: in his 2024 tax declaration, Sori Savane indicated that he was registered in an apartment in Dnipro. At the same time, his wife Olga has an apartment in joint ownership with other relatives, but her actual place of residence is indicated in Germany.
Sori Savane also declared a Nissan Juke car, purchased in 2020 for UAH 221,313.
Savane's income for the same year was UAH 416,267. At the same time, the ex-official did not declare any monetary assets.
Persons who should have reacted: law enforcement agencies responded in a timely manner to the criminal activities of Savane and his accomplices.
Scandals: Before the corruption scheme, he was not seen as a figure in other scandals.
Sources:
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2023/06/20/novyna/polityka/apelyacziya-vaks-vyznala-obgruntovanoyu-pidozru-zastupnyku-kerivnyka-prokuratury https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2023/09/07/novyna/pravo/sprava-prokuroriv-dnipra-advokatu-ne-zminyly-zapobizhnyj-zaxid