Skeptics often claim that Ukraine’s anti-corruption system does not work and that no one is convicted for corruption. However, official statistics from the HACC debunk this myth: as of the end of June 2025, 258 individuals have been finally convicted in cases investigated, among others, by the NABU.
From September 5, 2019, to June 30, 2025, HACC’s final judgments for high-level corruption have affected:
- 10 Members of Parliament and government officials
- 13 heads and deputies of local councils
- 23 judges
- 5 prosecutors
- 27 executives of state-owned enterprises
- 20 lawyers
- 160 other individuals.
Before the creation of the HACC, there were only 8–9 convictions for high-level corruption per year. Now, the HACC alone issues 30 to 80 verdicts annually. As of July 18, 2025, the HACC has delivered 291 verdicts. These results stem from NABU’s investigations and SAPO’s prosecutions in court.
Among those actually serving prison sentences are judges, state enterprise executives, and other high-ranking officials, including a deputy minister, heads of district administrations, a deputy head of a Prosecutor General’s Office department, a penitentiary service director, and others.
Selected cases
Yurii Hrymchak
Former Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs of Ukraine. In 2022, he was convicted of fraud and inciting another person to offer a bribe. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with full property confiscation. In 2023, the HACC Appeals Chamber upheld the verdict. In 2025, the case was finally concluded — the cassation instance confirmed that all previous decisions were lawful.
The investigation began in August 2019, and in 2020 the case was sent to court.
Ruslan Solvar
Former MP. In 2022, the HACC found him guilty of abuse of office. Initially, in 2021, he was acquitted due to lack of corpus delicti, as judges disagreed with that classification (Article 364(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and considered fraud a more appropriate charge. The Supreme Court reviewed the case, clarified the legal qualification, and HACC convicted him under Article 364(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, sentencing him to 3 years in prison. The verdict is now under cassation appeal.
The investigation against him began in October 2018, in January 2020 the case materials were separated into a standalone proceeding, and the case was referred to court in May 2020.
Dmytro Sus
Former Deputy Head of the Department for Investigating Particularly Important Economic Cases of the Prosecutor General’s Office. In January 2023, he was found guilty of misappropriating property through abuse of office on a large scale and repeatedly.
The HACC Appeals Chamber reduced his sentence from 9 years to 7 years. The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts.
The investigation against him began in 2016, and in 2018 the case materials were separated into a standalone proceeding. The case was referred to court in 2018, and in September 2019 it was transferred from the Podilskyi District Court to the HACC.
Mykola Chaus
Former judge of the Dniprovskyi District Court of Kyiv. In 2023, he was found guilty of soliciting a USD 100,000 bribe in exchange for granting a suspended sentence to a pensioner accused of trading diphenhydramine. He was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment with full property confiscation. In 2025, the HACC Appeals Chamber reduced his prison term to 8.5 years. The case is currently under cassation review.
The investigation began in August 2016, when NABU detectives caught the judge accepting a USD 150,000 bribe. The case was referred to court in November 2021 after Chaus returned to Ukraine.
Oleksandr Smirnov
Former member of the Poltava Regional Council from the Servant of the People party. In 2024, he was found guilty of unlawfully misappropriating UAH 100,000 intended as medical aid. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison and barred from holding positions in government and local self-government for 3 years. In 2025, the HACC Appeals Chamber upheld the verdict.
The investigation began in 2023, and the case was referred to court in 2024.
Ihor Buksanchuk
Former CEO of the state specialized enterprise Radon Association. In June 2022, he was found guilty of bribery and sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. In January 2023, the HACC Appeals Chamber upheld the verdict.
The investigation began in March 2020, and the case was referred to court in 2021.
The official attempted to challenge the court jurisdiction. In March 2023, the Supreme Court refused to suspend the execution of the sentence.
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Of course, punishment for corruption is not limited to imprisonment but may also include fines or property confiscation. Enforcement of such penalties also faces challenges — this depends, among other things, on the State Penitentiary Service, the Ministry of Justice’s department responsible for implementing court verdicts, and the police.
For example, 20 individuals sentenced to imprisonment are currently on the wanted list. Another 6 have been released on parole, with such decisions being made not by the HACC but by local courts.
Nevertheless, official data convincingly refutes the myth of an ineffective anti-corruption system in Ukraine. In less than six years, the court has convicted over 200 individuals, including top-ranking officials — from deputy ministers to judges and MPs. The increase in convictions from 8–9 per year to up to 80 annually demonstrates a qualitative leap in anti-corruption efforts thanks to NABU’s investigations, SAPO’s prosecutions, and HACC’s adjudications.
Therefore, the independence of the NABU and the SAPO must not be undermined but strengthened, so that the system continues to prove its effectiveness through the inevitability of accountability.
