The Temporary Investigation Commission is trying to determine whether there was influence on the Public Integrity Council, but the key witness refuses to appear before the Verkhovna Rada.
An attempt was made to forcibly bring Mikhail Zhernakov, head of the DEJURE Foundation, to a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigation Commission on the investigation of possible corruption or corruption-related offences in law enforcement agencies, courts, and judicial authorities, known in the media as the “Vlasenko-Buzhansky Commission.”
The summons was related to the fact that the TSC is trying to determine whether the DEJURE Foundation and Mikhail Zhernakov personally influenced the formation and activities of the Public Integrity Council. The latter plays a certain role in judicial reform, as it was intended to exercise public control over the integrity of candidates for judicial power.
For example, on November 4, the TSK questioned Tatyana Katrichenko, co-author of a column in Ukrainska Pravda, but did not receive any specific answers from her. Mikhail Zhernakov could not be questioned because he did not attend the TSK meeting at all.
Zhernakov himself complained that the National Police tried to break into his house and claimed that the TSK does not have the authority to summon public activists or conduct investigations against them, and allegedly “set out to attack independent institutions and public organizations that are cleaning up the system.”
In addition, he said that he had a more important reason for not attending the Verkhovna Rada, namely that he was going to a “high-level meeting.”
All events took place in the elite Elyseum residential complex, where, according to media reports, the cheapest apartment costs about $160,000 without renovation.
The next meeting of the TSK will take place on November 24, 2025, and the agenda item to be considered is the presence of signs of abuse of influence and other possible corruption offenses in the formation and activities of the third and fourth compositions of the Public Integrity Council.
What is Mikhail Zhernakov known for?
Career as a judge
In 2012, then-President Viktor Yanukovych appointed him judge of the Vinnitsa District Administrative Court. On September 30, 2013, the High Qualification Commission of Judges recommended him for permanent transfer to the position of judge of the District Administrative Court of Kiev.
According to the Judicial and Legal Newspaper, Mikhail Zhernakov was absent from work for 449 (!) days between 2012 and 2015. For example, from January to September 2015, he considered only 76 administrative cases.
In July 2015, he submitted his resignation from the position of judge at his own request.
Evasion of military service
According to media reports, on December 14, 2023, Mikhail Zhernakov was detained in Kyiv by officers of the TCC and SP and forcibly taken to the Shevchenkivskyi District TCC and SP. The reason was a violation of the rules of military registration for conscripts.
A report was drawn up against Zhernakov under Part 2 of Article 210-1 (violation of legislation on defense, mobilization preparation, and mobilization) of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
Zhernakov did not contest the actions of the TCC and on December 20, 2023, paid a fine of 5,300 hryvnia.
Later, he got a job as an expert at the Ministry of Defense’s “Office of Change.”
At the same time, back in June 2023, Zhernakov tried to get a ‘deferral’ — he got a job at the private higher education institution “Kyiv School of Economics” (KSE) at 0.75 of the standard rate.
When information about his “research and teaching activities” became public in December of the same year, a scandal erupted. The rector of KSE had to comment publicly on the situation, stating that if Zhernakov was mobilized, KSE would not object and “would wait for his return.”
– A conflict with Dmitry Krivenko, a judge of the Lipovetsky District Court of the Vinnytsia region, which arose from the story of December 15, 2021, involving judges of the Shevchenko District Court of Zaporizhia, who celebrated Court Workers’ Day in a cafe to the sound of chanson music. In January 2022, a video of the incident was posted online, after which the judges received a wave of criticism.
– Interference in the election of the head of the Supreme Court.
– Colleagues in the “civil sector” accused him of manipulating the election of members of the Public Integrity Council, promoting candidates who were personally beneficial to him to the PIC (“Zhernakov’s lists”), putting pressure on certain members of the public, intrigue, slander, “usurpation of power,” and even financial fraud involving foreign donor funds that were intended to “support judicial reform in Ukraine.”
Some critics even claimed that there may have been financial irregularities in the use of donor funds received to support judicial reform. There is no public confirmation of these allegations, and Zhernakov himself denies them.
