HAC judges to buy apartments worth 60 million from the budget

Judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HAC), despite high-profile corruption scandals and salaries in the hundreds of thousands of hryvnia, will continue to receive preferential housing loans.

According to budget plans, the HAC will allocate 60 million hryvnia in 2025 for the purchase of service apartments for its staff. 

In addition, the High Council of Justice (HCJ) is demanding that the Cabinet of Ministers introduce preferential loans at 3% annual interest for HAC staff, HCJ members, the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQJC), and their secretariats. While their monthly salaries range from 300,000 to 400,000 hryvnia, the idea of such privileges is causing public outcry.

Lawyer and former court head Pavlo Vovk expressed his position on social media:
«Доступная ипотека для судей, зарабатывающих сотни тысяч гривен в месяц? Это выглядит как издевательство!» (Affordable mortgages for judges earning hundreds of thousands of hryvnia a month? This looks like mockery!).

Renowned lawyer Oleksandr Shram noted:
«В то время как переселенцы вынуждены жить на 13 квадратных метрах в модульных городках, а военные годами ждут жилья, представители судебной элиты получают квартиры без очереди» (While internally displaced persons are forced to live in 13-square-metre modules in temporary settlements, and military personnel have been waiting for housing for years, representatives of the judicial elite are receiving apartments without having to queue).

Political expert Oleksandr Posternak also commented on the situation, drawing attention to the scale of the problem:
«Речь идет не о нескольких людях, а о целой армии «избранных»: судьи ВАКС, члены ВРП, ВККС, сотрудники их секретариатов и даже их семьи. Это миллионы бюджетных средств!» (This is not about a few people, but about an entire army of the "chosen": HAC judges, HCJ and HQJC members, staff of their secretariats, and even their families. This amounts to millions of budget funds!).

And this is without mentioning the corruption that prevails in the HAC.