Ukraine's anti-corruption court sentences ex-gambling regulator member to eight years

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on 12 October sentenced a former member of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (KRAIL) to eight years in prison for receiving a $90,000 undue advantage in exchange for help with permits and licences in the gambling business, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said in a statement on its official channel. The court found the former commissioner guilty under Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code.

The sentence also carries a three-year ban on holding posts in state bodies and on exercising the functions of a representative of the state, and confiscation of property, according to NABU. The court left bail in place as the preventive measure until the verdict takes effect. The verdict enters into force 30 days after it was announced unless it is appealed.

The verdict closes the trial stage of a case that took four years to decide. NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) sent the indictment to court on 7 October 2022, according to a NABU release of that date, so the HACC ruling came four years and five days later, a Data Desk count of the two dates. The commissioner had been caught in August 2021.

What the case file shows

The 2022 NABU release describes the facts as follows. The commissioner was caught in the act in August 2021 during a special operation in which undercover detectives took part. According to the investigation, he offered to secure decisions, by himself and by other members of the commission, granting permits that confirmed premises were fit for organising and running gambling in a gaming establishment. He also promised to arrange the licences to run gambling in those premises, and priced the service at $90,000. He was dismissed from the commission in December 2021 and the investigation was completed in June 2022.

The statements do not name the former commissioner, and none says whether other members of the commission were investigated. The 2022 release says the decisions on permits were to be taken by him and by other members of the commission, but neither it nor the October statement reports charges against anyone else.

What the instrument covered

The permits at issue were the commission's confirmations that a business's premises met the requirements for organising and running gambling in a gaming establishment, and the licences were the right to run gambling in those premises, according to the 2022 release. The allegation was that a sitting member of the body that granted both offered to arrange them for payment. For businesses that held permits or licences from the commission in that period, the verdict is the first court finding in the case.

The October statement does not say whether any permit or licence connected with the case was reviewed or revoked, and the 2022 release does not identify the business that was to receive them. Neither document says whether the $90,000 was recovered or forms part of the confiscation order.

The court's wider record

The verdict is one of several HACC rulings announced by NABU in October. In the first half of 2026, 55 HACC guilty verdicts against 76 people came into force, according to NABU and SAPO's results for the period. That report also records the Appeals Chamber upholding the verdict against a former head of the State Fiscal Service, and a sentence of four years and six months for a Kyiv lawyer who tried to bribe NABU and SAPO staff. NABU's channel announced the gambling commission verdict alongside a link to the 2022 release on the indictment.

The next dated step is the end of the 30-day appeal window on 11 November 2026, after which the sentence takes effect if no appeal is filed.