In the Ukrainian corruption investigation codenamed \u201eForrest Gump,\u201c a new chapter has become public, which for the first time does not concern companies or bank accounts, but rather the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, known as VAKS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a court hearing in early September, fragments from surveillance recordings were played in which conversation partners mentioned specific judge names and discussed who in the court's circle could be approached. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the center stands the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, Iryna Mudra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hearing on Mudra's pretrial detention, a judge of the appellate panel posed an unusually direct question: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether she had intended to influence the work of the VAKS and in particular the election of its chairman in 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The justice portal \u201eHACC Decided\u201c documented that in the cited conversations, judges were divided into groups depending on whether they could be contacted or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The VAKS judges Yevhen Kruk, Tetiana Lytvynko, Olena Chernova and appellate judge Oleksandr Semennykov were named. Mudra denied in court that she had exerted influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The published conversation fragments are from December 2025 and show, according to the court, an exchange between Mudra and construction entrepreneur Maksym Mykytas about possible candidates for the VAKS chairmanship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one fragment, Mudra is said to have asked how advantageous it would be for her if a certain person took the position. On March 25, 2026, the VAKS judicial assembly actually elected a new leadership: Ihor Strohy became chairman, Dmytro Mykhailenko his deputy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strohy does not appear in the conversation protocols known so far as a discussed candidate, so a direct connection between the December conversations and the election result has not yet been established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the day of the election, the judicial assembly also adopted an open letter to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanding a new courthouse on Vasyl-Lypkivsky Street 35 in Kyiv. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the letter, talks with state authorities had already taken place before March 25, and objective obstacles to the transfer of the building were not evident. According to published information, the court's space problem had also been a topic of the December talks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June 2026, the government agreed to a transfer plan after, according to VAKS, several coordination meetings had taken place, including one under the then Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and the head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, Iryna Mudra, confirmed communication over the space problem but denied any agreement in exchange for court decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine is a central reference point for European and Austrian investors in reconstruction, including through EU programs and the Ukraine Investment Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Functioning anti-corruption institutions such as the VAKS court are considered a prerequisite for foreign capital and for the disbursement of EU funds from the Ukraine Facility Program with a volume of 50 billion euros until 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies with Ukraine engagement, for example in the construction or energy sector, therefore monitor proceedings related to justice and corruption also from an economic self-interest perspective.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wiretapped conversations, anti-corruption judges and an upcoming election that actually took place three months later. A building plays a supporting role in this.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\nMehr lesen: {url}\n\n{tags}\n#YANUS","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[21,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigativ","category-ukraine-osteuropa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/img_7305.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3720"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3770,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions\/3770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3720"}],"curies":[{"name":"Working Paper","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}