Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Money, real estate and cars could end the career of Kharkiv lawyer Kucherianenko
Official biography of Kharkiv resident Mykola Kucherianenko paints the image of a successful lawyer, scholar, administrator, and military. At one time he served as first deputy minister of justice, first vice president of the National Academy of Legal Sciences, first rector of Yaroslav Mudryi National University of Law, and now serves as a staff officer in “Charter” — one of the most successful and high-tech corps of the Defense Forces. However, a number of scandals Kucherianenko has recently finding himself in reveal him in a completely different light.
This is written by "Informator".
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 on the way to appointment. However, the competition turned into a loud reputational blow. The Ethics Council found that Kucherianenko did not meet the criteria of professional ethics and integrity, effectively closing his chances to join the HCJ. Questions from the Ethics Council arose about the candidate’s financial transactions and the source of funds for buying real estate. A separate topic was his role in the election of the director of NABU in the year 2023 — the competition that Kucherianenko headed and which at one time caused wide public resonance.
Contested competition
Former SAP prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytsky publicly questioned the independence of the competition to elect the director of NABU. According to him, the procedure was clearly pre-arranged and had a clientelistic character, and one of the key roles was played exactly by Mykola Kucherianenko, who headed the competition commission. The resonance of this story was given by a SAP memo, which was in the possession of the Ethics Council. As Bronevytsky states, citing this document, the materials contain information that Kucherianenko received instructions from then-Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna regarding the priority of certain candidates, primarily concerning the current NABU director who won the competition under Kucherianenko’s leadership.
Millions “on loan”
Many questions were raised by the story of 4,6 million UAH (about $180 thousand), which Kucherianenko did not reflect in his declaration. According to him, in 2017 year he lent these funds from an old friend-restaurateur to buy an apartment, and he did not include them in the declaration because he supposedly received the amount in installments — over eight months in tranches not exceeding 80 thousand UAH, which, in turn, was precisely the threshold for declaring material changes in the status that applied at that time. The loan arrangement, according to Kucherianenko, was oral, but each tranche allegedly was confirmed by a separate promissory note. After full repayment of the funds in 2020–2022 years, the lender returned these promissory notes to him, after which Kucherianenko disposed of them. The Ethics Council doubted such a source of funds. After all, it is no secret that schemes with private loans are often used to cloak and legitimize illicit earnings. In this way, cash already exists not as a bribe or other shadow income, but as funds borrowed from a relative or another, of course, straw person.
“Mom loves speed”
That is how, in his time, Oleksandr Dubinsky — a scandalous deputy, now suspected of state treason — explained to journalists why his elderly mother has an expensive elite car fleet. In responding to similar questions, Mykola Kucherianenko, if not surpassing Dubinsky, at least was close. Explaining why in 2014 year his 77-year-old mother bought a brand-new Audi Q5 valued at 61 thousand euros, he replied that his mother simply needed to drive to the dacha.
Five apartments and hundreds of thousands of dollars
Mykola Kucherianenko’s family is not short of money. Together with his wife Olga Minaeva, a judge from Kharkiv, they hold in cash over $200 thousand and 1,5 million UAH. In addition to funds, there are at least 5 apartments in Kharkiv: one in the residential complex “Na Bakulina” and four more in the premium-class residential complex “Titulus” in the city center. The Ethics Council also asked about Kucherianenko’s stepson — also a judge, Mykhailo Zhernavov. When asked where he got funds for buying a new apartment and a Tesla, Kucherianenko could not answer.
Where such property comes from in the family of a “modest scientist” and judge remains only to guess. Investigative journalists remind that Kucherianenko worked for the Ministry of Justice for 2024–2025 years when it was headed by Herman Haluschchenko, one of the figures in the “Mindichgate” — a loud scandal associated with shadow influence and large corruption schemes in various sectors. Of course, Mykola Kucherianenko publicly did not mention himself in this investigation. However, as practice shows, deputy ministers (and this was the position held by Kucherianenko in the Ministry of Justice) are rarely outside dubious affairs.
Over the years in the field of jurisprudence and law, Kucherianenko has also developed serious connections in law enforcement agencies, which, apparently, he still does not shy away from using. Rumors hint at possible involvement of Kucherianenko in one of Kharkiv’s black refereeing centers, whose activities were organized and sustained by a certain Ihor Akhmetshin. Using a scheme with international bills of lading based on document falsification to create fake document flows (so-called paper VAT or drafts), artificially inflated company costs and the withdrawal of non-cash funds to accounts of fake enterprises or non-residents with subsequent cash withdrawals. The scheme involved several companies registered in the name of Akhmetshin’s wife — Kateryna Bondarenko. In this process, Kucherianenko allegedly was responsible for “covering” the office.
.fancybox-div {text-align: center; font-size: 12px; margin: 0 0 20px 0;}
Money, real estate and cars could end the career of Kharkiv lawyer Kucherianenko
A failure in the competition for the High Council of Justice and a queue of scandals around Mykola Kucherianenko not only questioned his professional qualification but also seriously hit his reputation. Stories about a multimillion-dollar loan, an elite car, registered in his elderly mother’s name, and questions about his role in the competition to elect the NABU director have become part of the public biography of the lawyer and continue to spark public interest. Particular attention is drawn to Kucherianenko’s alleged collaboration with Akhmetshin and their joint activity. Although in this case, the origin of capital for buying real estate and the car fleet of all family members of the controversial Mr. Kucherianenko becomes quite understandable. The “income” from the activities of the black refereeing centers could well cover these expenses.
When so many ambiguous stories accumulate around one person, they inevitably start to outweigh titles, scientific ranks, and long-standing government service. Ukrainian society is unlikely to want to see officials with such a questionable reputation, Mykola Kucherianenko, in high government posts, especially during a war when the country is already swayed by a number of corruption scandals in the defense sector.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Гроші, нерухомість та автомобілі можуть покласти край кар’єрі харківського юриста Кучерявенка". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
