Judges do not want their earnings to be audited by the State Audit Service: audit threatens independence of courts
2 August 2024 11:24
The Council of Judges of Ukraine has banned the State Audit Service of Ukraine (SASU) from auditing judges’ salaries. This was reported bythepress service of the Council of Judges, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
on 1 August 2024, the Council of Judges of Ukraine received a letter from the State Audit Service of Ukraine (SASU), signed on 31 July 2024, stating that obstructing the activities of state financial control bodies is a criminal offence under Article 351-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Alla Basalaeva, the Head of the SASU, noted in her letter that at the request of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the State Audit Service ensures control over public expenditures, including the financing of labour costs of court staff.
The Council of Judges of Ukraine notes that “the level of expenditures on remuneration of court staff is extremely low compared to the remuneration of civil servants in other structures”.
The judges recalled that the Council of Judges of Ukraine had already determined in its Resolution No. 44 of 09.06.2016 that audits by the State Financial Inspection threatened the independence of the courts .
In its ruling of 30 January 2020 in case No. 804/902/16, the Supreme Court confirmed that the audit of the financial and economic activities of the judiciary by the regional bodies of the State Financial Inspection is not provided for by law, and such audits are carried out by the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine.
The Council of Judges of Ukraine decided to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (to inform the MPs of Ukraine) and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to respond to the risks of impact on the judiciary and to provide the necessary regulatory and legal regulation of the powers of the Accounting Chamber and the State Audit Service of Ukraine, taking into account the constitutional principles of independence of courts and judges.
“The Council of Judges of Ukraine noted that the functions of the Accounting Chamber and the State Audit Service overlap. The courts and the judiciary are not against accountability and transparency and the fact that the use of state budget funds is controlled. However, our position is that the State Audit Service does not have the right to do this, and this should be done by the Accounting Chamber,” comments Bohdan Monich, Chairman of the Council.
Earlier, the State Audit Service in 2021-2022 found that 374 judges of local general courts did not administer justice, but still received judicial remuneration. It cost the budget more than UAH 430 million.
Among the most famous cases is that of Oleksiy Tandyr, a judge of the Makariv District Court of Kyiv Region, who has been in custody since May last year. But in June-November last year, he received almost UAH 400 thousand in judicial remuneration.
In another case, a judge of the Bryansk City Court of Luhansk Oblast received remuneration and accruals totalling UAH 2.4 million since 2021. Moreover, this judge acquired the citizenship of the aggressor country.
It is worth noting that according tothedashboardpublishedby the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the average salaries of court employees vary dramatically – from the lowest of UAH 10.6 thousand to the highest of UAH 210.7 thousand per month.
To find out how much judges received per month (based on the example of January 2024), read the article by Kommersant Ukrainian 
“Salary of a Ukrainian judge: who officially receives the most“.
