Position: former Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine.
Sphere of corruption: judicial sphere.
Region of corruption activity: Kyiv city.
Qualification: the actions of the former owner are qualified under Part 1 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended by Law No. 2341-III of 05.04.2001); receiving a bribe under Part 2 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended by Law No. 2341-III of 05.04.2001.
Status: in custody.
Case story: On December 3, 2024, law enforcement officers detained the former deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine. The name of the detainee has not been disclosed, but according to media reports, it is Artur Yemelyanov.
According to the investigation, the former judge was part of a criminal organization consisting mainly of judges and their family members, lawyers, and court employees. They made "necessary" decisions, mainly in commercial disputes, in exchange for bribes.
The criminal organization was headed by the former chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, who is currently wanted. Its members, as well as other judges under their influence, made the necessary court decisions in the interests of the criminal organization for bribes. The members of the criminal organization involved other court employees in their activities, who, on their instructions and for material reward, interfered in the distribution of court cases and appointed "their" judges in them.
The former deputy of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine is suspected of participating in a criminal organization and participating in crimes committed by such an organization, and receiving a bribe.
On the same day, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv imposed a preventive measure on Artur Yemelyanov.
UCP prosecutor Bohdan Mozurok requested that Yemelyanov be arrested for two months without bail.
Judge Kristofa Konstantinova supported this proposal - Yemelyanov will be held in pre-trial detention until January 30.
It is noted that the suspect himself refused to plead guilty and called the case against him a "Chapito circus" that was fabricated to allegedly prevent him from practicing law.
In February 2025, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court remanded in custody former Deputy Chairman of the High Economic Court Artur Yemelyanov.
The appeal considered the defense's complaints against the judge's ruling to extend Yemelyanov's detention. The investigating judge determined that an alternative to detention would be the payment of UAH 50 million in bail.
Thus, the panel of judges dismissed the appeals of the defense, and the ruling of the investigating judge of the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals remained unchanged. The decision is not subject to appeal in cassation.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes : in addition to Artur Yemelyanov, other officials of the Supreme Economic Court are also involved in the scheme. According to "Schemes", the organizer was Viktor Tatkov, the former chairman of the Supreme Economic Court. Previously, the organizer was put on the wanted list, he was suspected of creating and participating in a criminal organization, along with a number of other participants in the criminal scheme.
Assets: in the declaration for 2023, Yemelyanov indicated that he rents a residential building in the Kyiv region, as well as an apartment in the capital, owned by his wife Svitlana (worth UAH 1,889,584), as a place of registration.
Yemelyanov also declared a Breguet watch (worth UAH 680,000) and a Blaser carbine (worth UAH 113,000). Among the vehicles, he declared only a moped worth UAH 25,000.
Yemelyanov's income for 2023 was UAH 1,759,830.
He declared 400,000 UAH and 125,000 USD in cash, and 240,599 UAH and 59,994 USD in her bank accounts.
Persons who should have reacted: law enforcement agencies responded in a timely manner to the criminal activities of Artur Yemelyanov and his accomplices.
Scandals: In 2017 and 2018, the High Council of Justice suspended Artur Yemelyanov from his position as a judge of the High Economic Court of Ukraine several times. In 2021, he was dismissed.
In 2016, Yemelyanov and his boss Viktor Tatkov were reported on suspicion of illegal interference in the automated system for distributing cases and applications, interference in the activities of judges. The investigation stated that these individuals in 2011-2014 actually subordinated the system for making court decisions to themselves. It also turned out that Yemelyanov had funds that did not correspond to his income.
He was suspended from the judiciary due to suspicions of corruption and pressure on judges. The Second Disciplinary Chamber of the High Council of Justice established in 2018 that Judge Yemelyanov, using his official position, influenced judges of the Commercial Court of Kyiv and interfered in the judicial process by one of them in cases that were pending in its proceedings before 2014, in which, as he noted, he was seen as a "state issue." However, he was only able to be dismissed in 2021.
The media writes that Artur Yemelyanov is called the face of the judicial system of the time of Viktor Yanukovych. At that time, he rose through the ranks from deputy head of the Donetsk Regional Economic Court to deputy head of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine. Yemelyanov administered justice until 2017, but continued to receive a salary until 2021 - until he was dismissed from his post for "influencing judges." After that, the former judge took up legal practice in Ukraine.
In 2017, "Schemes" reported that the ex-wife of the then judge of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, Artur Yemelyanov, Svitlana, owns numerous luxury properties in different parts of the world - Turkey, the UAE, Austria, Germany. At the same time, the Yemelyanovs' divorce could have been fictitious to hide other luxury properties abroad.
And in October 2018, then-MP Serhiy Leshchenko reported that the Austrian prosecutor's office suspects the scandalous Ukrainian judge Artur Yemelyanov and his wife Svitlana of committing a number of criminal offenses. During the same period, the Security Service stated that it had exposed the judge in financing terrorist organizations in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. However, the judge was not officially suspected at the time. The SBU later deleted its message.
In 2024, "Schemes" published an investigation into the Dubai real estate of former officials and their entourage - it, in particular, discussed Svetlana Yemelyanova's three apartments with a total value of $1.8 million.
Sources:
https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-dbr-zatrymannya-suddya-hospodarskyy-sud/33225112.html
https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-sud-dbr-yemelyanov-aresht/33226156.html
https://lb.ua/society/2023/09/25/576424_up_odioznogo_ekssuddi_iemelyanova.html
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/240c1907-4deb-41c6-bd3e-760988bafae9