Bohdan Lvov
Can a judge who is an FSB agent administer justice in Ukraine? Can a Ukrainian judge whose family lives in Moscow think about Ukraine's interests and the protection of its citizens? The answer is obvious. Of course not. Can such a judge hold leadership positions in the judicial system? "That's a stupid question. That's pure fantasy," you might say. Unfortunately, this fantasy is currently the absolute reality in Ukraine.
It's ironic that while war is raging in Ukraine and the government is talking about reforms and the lustration of judges, one of Ukraine's most influential judicial bodies, the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine (SECCU), is headed not just by an inveterate corrupt official, but by a Kremlin insider—Bohdan Lvov.
And while the entire Ukrainian public awaits the prosecution of the odious judges who persecuted Euromaidan participants, the Chairman of the Supreme Commercial Court, who works for the Russian FSB, remains out of the picture.
Just imagine: the most important disputes arising in the areas of banking and securities, corporate and land relations, bankruptcy, and antitrust legislation are in the hands of the aggressor state. And all this is happening through the "justice" of Bohdan Lvov. And let the foolish public rejoice at the announcement of charges against district court judges who stripped Euromaidan protesters of their licenses. Such a public "flogging" will allow the closure of far more prominent and "important" judges. Judges like Bohdan Lvov.
For obvious reasons, you will not find this information on the official website of the Supreme Commercial Court https://vgsu.arbitr.gov.ua/pages/175.
Here, Bohdan Lvov is both an Honored Lawyer of Ukraine and a holder of the first qualification class of judge. But there's a flip side to this, which can be seen even on the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine's website. It's his education.
The fact is that Bohdan Lvov has had ties to Moscow since his youth. Back in 1989, he graduated from the Military Law Faculty of the Red Banner Military Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
In particular, this Moscow higher military educational institution of the USSR armed forces trained officers for military prosecutors' offices and military tribunals, as well as political workers and special propagandists for the USSR Ministry of Defense.
Since the onset of Russian aggression against Ukraine, distinguished Ukrainian lawyer Bohdan Lvov has been making increasingly frequent trips to the White Stone City. Moreover, his frequent trips to Russia typically last no more than two days.
During these trips, the true motives and goals of Bohdan Lvov became clear. He is now, without any remorse, actively betraying Ukraine's interests to the Russian FSB.
He's been working for Moscow for a long time. It's known that Bogdan Lvov didn't limit himself to studying at the Red Banner Military Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense; he also underwent special training with the Soviet secret services. As a result, he immediately secured the position of chief of staff at the military tribunal.
Information about Bohdan Lvov's role as head of the office of the military tribunal of the Kyiv Military District from 1989 to 1992 is even available on the website of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine.
By the way, have you ever noticed that since the events in Donbas, Bohdan Lvov hasn't made a single statement of support for Ukrainian troops in the ATO zone? Apparently, due to his pro-Russian views and close cooperation with the Kremlin, the judge chose to remain silent.
In this regard, it becomes clear how Bohdan Lvov manages to so cold-bloodedly destroy Ukrainian business with his court decisions while simultaneously supporting Russian commercial enterprises and banks with Russian capital.
Thus, in legal circles, it is well known that in order to protect the interests of the "right" parties in legal proceedings, primarily Russian ones, Bogdan Lvov successfully introduced the practice of bypassing the automated case distribution system in the Supreme Commercial Court.
It is noteworthy that if the need arises to move to Russia, the judge has everything ready; all that remains is to pack his suitcases.
Firstly, Bohdan Lvov's entire family has long lived in Russia. His wife, Inna Alekseyevna Lvova, and their daughter also hold Russian citizenship. Is it conceivable that Russia would allow the family of a Ukrainian judge who strongly supports Ukraine to live peacefully? Or, conversely, that a judge who defends Ukraine's interests would move his family to an aggressor country?
Secondly, family trivialities aside, Inna Lvova opened bank accounts in Russia through which her husband can withdraw the money he "earned" in the Ukrainian court. And, most likely, this is far from his salary.
Incidentally, as of February of this year, Bohdan Lvov complained that the maximum possible salary for Ukrainian judges is 6,8 hryvnias, and bonuses are nonexistent.
Without hiding his dissatisfaction with the size of his salary, the judge admitted that in Ukraine he feels like “a prisoner.”
The judge also showed off another extraordinary phrase: “A high-level professional won’t work for 6,8 thousand hryvnias, he’ll leave.”
You might ask: why hasn't Bohdan Lvov, a first-class judge, resigned, especially since the Ukrainian public has repeatedly asked him to do so?
"Since May of last year, my personal salary, in absolute terms, without taking inflation, hryvnia devaluation, and other factors into account, has dropped threefold. They might ask me: why aren't you leaving? There's a nuance here: the High Council of Justice has been closed since April of last year, and now not a single judge can resign," he explains. "Judges are now like prisoners: each one has received at least a year's imprisonment and can't leave."
"If you take a sterile person, put them on a symbolic salary, and task them with resolving global financial issues, it's hard to resist," says the Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine.
Bohdan Lvov also explained in detail the reasons for the flourishing corruption in the courts and even, one might say, named the price for "correct" dispute resolution in Ukraine.
"There's one nuance that makes a judge with a low salary dangerous. International experience shows that if an official is offered a reward equal to two years' salary for some corrupt act, they'll take it," he said.
"If you multiply 6,8 thousand hryvnias by 24 months, it turns out that the amount that the judge will not be able to resist is less than 10 thousand dollars, which is a sum that is quite affordable for the interested parties," the judge calculated.
Well, now it's at least clear how and at what minimum rates a judge with a "low salary," Bohdan Lvov, becomes "dangerous" and can't resist resolving a couple of "global financial issues" as required by a client in Moscow. But what can you expect from him? It's unlikely that a judge with such extensive experience in the paid judicial system can be classified as "sterile."
As you can see, there are so many grounds for the lustration of Bohdan Lvov that they would be enough to lustrate the entire judicial corps of the Supreme Commercial Court. Nevertheless, to this day, this bribe-taker and loyal servant of the Kremlin continues to dispense justice "in the name of Ukraine."
One gets the impression that the only people in Ukraine who haven't heard of the "heroic deeds" of judges are probably the judges of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that, despite the shameful scandals surrounding Bohdan Lvov, even after the Revolution of Dignity, they re-elected him as Chairman this year?
There were plenty of scandals. An outraged public even picketed the VSKhU building to force the judge to resign, but as it turned out, they weren't asking the judge to resign.
"They're asking me to resign only under the pretext that 'there's no smoke without fire,'" Bohdan Lvov said after the pickets. So that's all the excuses for resignation the judge heard.
But you and I know that there are other reasons, which have accumulated, to put it mildly, more than enough during the judge’s tenure.
Let's begin, perhaps, with the pretexts for dismissal that people brought to the courthouse this February. Among them: judicial abuses, rampant corruption, and corporate raids that left people jobless.
According to the victims themselves, in administering "justice," Bohdan Lvov is following a well-established pattern, in place since the Yanukovych regime: he personally orders businesses to go bankrupt and then transfers them to third parties. The final straw for the people was the news, published in numerous media outlets, of the arrest of the Head of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine while accepting a $1 million bribe.
Therefore, the only demand of Ukrainian citizens picketing the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine building during the cold February days was the immediate dismissal of Bohdan Lvov and the calling of early elections for the Chairman of the Court.
But the scandalous judge never came forward to explain his corruption schemes. Instead, he refuted all the accusations through the Supreme Commercial Court's press service and resorted to another well-worn tradition from the Yanukovych era: hiding behind police officers and National Guard members. It was law enforcement officers who protected Bohdan Lvov from any contact with protesters.
“I have officially contacted the Security Service of Ukraine,” he said at the time.
However, Bohdan Lvov's colleagues were much less fortunate: to get their jobs, judges were forced to pass through a "corridor of shame" consisting of portraits of corrupt judges.
You'll agree, it's quite strange that Bohdan Lvov managed to pass the background check and remain exempt from lustration. As is well known, there is Section 4 of Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Purification of Power." This provision of the law stipulates lustration for those who were full-time employees or undercover agents of the KGB of the USSR, the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, the KGB of other former Soviet republics, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, as well as for those who graduated from a KGB higher educational institution. This also applies to judges.
Thus, despite everything, FSB officer and Chairman of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, Bohdan Lvov, remained outside the scope of lustration.
Whether the Ukrainian government will ever see the obvious and blatant truth remains anyone's guess. What is clear is that without purging the judicial system of people like Bohdan Lvov, the prospects for a new Ukraine's revival will remain elusive.
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