Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The official biography of Kharkiv native Mykola Kucheriavenko paints the picture of a successful lawyer, scholar, administrator, and military officer. At different times he served as First Deputy Minister of Justice, First Vice President of the National Academy of Legal Sciences, First Vice-Rector of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, and now serves as a staff officer in “Khartia” — one of the most successful and high-tech corps of the Defense Forces. However, a number of scandals that Kucheriavenko has become involved in recently reveal him from a very different angle.
In July of this year he applied for the position of member of the High Council of Justice (HCJ). For a person with such a professional background there seemed to be no obstacles to appointment. But the competition turned into a loud reputational blow. The Ethics Council found that Kucheriavenko did not meet the criteria of professional ethics and integrity, effectively putting an end to his chances of joining the HCJ. The Ethics Council’s questions related to the candidate’s financial transactions and the source of funds used to purchase real estate. His role in selecting the NABU director in 2023 — the competition that Kucheriavenko chaired and which once caused widespread public resonance — was a separate topic.
A dubious competition
Former SAP prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytsky publicly questioned the independence of the competition to select the NABU director. According to him, the procedure was clearly prearranged and orchestrated, and one of the key roles in it was played by Mykola Kucheriavenko, who chaired the selection committee. The story gained resonance because of an SAP memo that came into the hands of the Ethics Council. As Bronevytsky claims, citing that document, the materials contain information that Kucheriavenko received instructions from then Vice Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna regarding the prioritization of certain candidates, in particular concerning the current NABU director who won that competition chaired by Kucheriavenko.
Millions “on loan”
The case involving 4,6 million UAH (about $180 thousand) that Kucheriavenko failed to declare raised many questions. According to him, in 2017 he borrowed these funds from a long-time restaurateur friend to buy an apartment, and he did not include them in his declaration because he allegedly received the amount in parts — over eight months in tranches that did not exceed 80 thousand UAH, which at the time was the threshold for declaring significant changes in assets. The loan agreement, Kucheriavenko said, was verbal, but receipt of each tranche was supposedly confirmed by a separate IOU. After full repayment in 2020–2022 the lender returned those IOUs to him, after which Kucheriavenko disposed of them. The Ethics Council doubted this version of the source of funds. After all, it is no secret that private loan schemes are often used to conceal and legalize illicit earnings. That way cash ceases to be a bribe or other shadow income and becomes funds supposedly borrowed from a relative or another, of course, front person.
“Mom loves speed”
This was how Alexander Dubinsky — the scandal-plagued MP now suspected of treason — once explained to journalists why an expensive luxury car fleet was registered to his elderly mother. In answering similar questions, Mykola Kucheriavenko, if he did not outdo Dubinsky, was certainly not far behind. Explaining why in 2014 his 77-year-old mother bought a brand-new Audi Q5 worth 61 thousand euros, he replied that his mother simply needed a car to go to the dacha.
Five apartments and hundreds of thousands of dollars
Mykola Kucheriavenko’s family is not poor. Together with his wife Olha Minaieva, a judge from Kharkiv, they hold over $200 thousand and 1,5 million UAH in cash. In addition to the cash, they own at least 5 apartments in Kharkiv: one in the Na Bakulina residential complex, and four more in the premium-class Titul complex in the very center of the city. The Ethics Council was also interested in Kucheriavenko’s stepson — fellow judge Mykhailo Zhernakov. Kucheriavenko was also unable to answer questions about where Zhernakov got the funds to buy a new apartment and a Tesla.
Where the family of the “modest scholar” and a judge got such property remains only a matter of speculation. Investigative journalists remind that Kucheriavenko worked in the Ministry of Justice during 2024–2025 when Herman Halushchenko headed it — one of the figures in “Mindichgate,” a major scandal related to shadow influence and large-scale corruption schemes across several sectors. Of course, Mykola Kucheriavenko is not publicly named in that investigation. However, as practice shows, first deputies of ministers (the position Kucheriavenko held in the Ministry of Justice) rarely remain untouched by questionable affairs.
Over his years working in jurisprudence and law, Kucheriavenko has also built serious ties within law enforcement agencies, which he apparently does not hesitate to use to this day. Rumors hint at Kucheriavenko’s alleged involvement with one of Kharkiv’s cash-out centers, whose operations are organized and maintained by a certain Ihor Akhmetshin. Using a scheme with international consignment notes based on document falsification to create fictitious paperwork (so-called paper VAT or “scrub” schemes), artificially inflating company expenses, and diverting non-cash funds to accounts of fictitious firms or nonresidents with subsequent cash withdrawals. Several companies registered to Akhmetshin’s wife — Kateryna Bondarenko — are involved in the scheme. In this process Kucheriavenko allegedly handles “covering” the office.
Failure in the HCJ competition and the series of scandals surrounding Mykola Kucheriavenko, if not calling his professional qualifications into question, have certainly dealt a serious blow to his reputation. Stories about a multi-million loan, a luxury car registered to his elderly mother, and questions about his role in selecting the NABU director have become part of the public biography of the lawyer and continue to attract public interest. Particular attention is also drawn to Kucheriavenko’s “collaboration” with Akhmetshin and their joint activities. In that light the source of capital for purchasing real estate and the vehicle fleet of all the family members of the controversial Mr. Kucheriavenko becomes quite understandable. Proceeds from cash-out center activities could well cover those expenses.
When so many ambiguous stories accumulate around one person, they inevitably begin to outweigh titles, academic degrees, and many years of public service. Ukrainian society is unlikely to want officials with such a dubious reputation as Mykola Kucheriavenko in high state positions, especially during wartime, when the country is already shaken by a string of corruption scandals in the defense sector.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "П'ять квартир, Audi для матері та $180 тисяч готівкою: що приховує біографія харківського юриста Миколи Кучерявенка". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
