Mykola Chaus, a Ukrainian judge charged with bribery and accused of having illicit links to President Petro Poroshenko and his allies, has turned himself in to the Moldovan authorities, Moldova’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor Viorel Morari said on March 1, the Ukrainsky Novyny news agency reported.
Chaus admitted that he had illegally crossed the border, Morari said.
Larysa Sargan, a spokeswoman for Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, said that the Prosecutor General’s Office would seek Chaus’ extradition to Ukraine.
Chaus’ arrest in Moldova follows Ukraine’s decision to extradite Moldovan businessman Veaceslav Platon to his native country in 2016. Platon, a business competitor of Moldova’s politically influential oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, has been charged with embezzlement, fraud and money laundering and believes the case to be politically motivated.
In February, Kyiv’s Solomyanka district court rejected anti-corruption prosecutors’ request to try Chaus in absentia.
In August, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau caught Chaus, a judge of Kyiv’s Dnipro district court, with a $150,000 bribe. However, Chaus could not be arrested without parliament’s approval under existing law, and he fled the country.
Chaus has been accused of having links to lawmaker Oleksandr Hranovsky, a top ally of Poroshenko, and fulfilling orders from the Presidential Administration – a claim denied by Poroshenko and Hranovsky. This could make his potential testimony in Ukraine politically sensitive.
In 2015, Chaus ruled in favor of Hranovsky and his business partner Andriy Adamovsky in a dispute over Kyiv’s Sky Mall shopping center.
In December 2015, Chaus also issued an arrest warrant for Gennady Korban, a political opponent of Poroshenko, in a kidnapping and embezzlement case. Lawyers argue that Korban’s arrest occurred in violation of numerous procedures.
Chaus removed Yury Ivanyushchenko, an ally of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych charged with embezzlement, from the wanted list in 2016, triggering a public outcry and accusations of corruption.
The Supreme Court on Feb. 28 approved the closure of the Ivanyushchenko case. Explaining decisions in favor of Ivanyushchenko, Ukrainian courts have cited inaction by prosecutors, including Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stolyarchuk, in investigating the case.
Another controversy surrounds Chaus’ rulings against EuroMaidan protesters in 2013-2014.
A commission for firing judges has ruled that Chaus should be dismissed for the unlawful rulings, and the disciplinary section of the High Council of Justice confirmed this conclusion.
However, the High Council of Justice refused to dismiss the judge, which critics saw as payback for Chaus’ alleged loyalty to Poroshenko.
