Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) announced they have exposed an organized criminal group that included current members of parliament.
Investigators allege the group’s members systematically cast votes in the Verkhovna Rada in a predetermined way in exchange for payments.
NABU did not provide further details and said more information would be released later.
Member of parliament Oleksiy Honcharenko said on his Telegram channel that NABU was conducting searches at premises of the Rada’s Transport Committee.
In November, NABU carried out a large-scale operation dubbed “Midas,” in which officials from the energy sector were accused of illicit enrichment and money laundering. The scheme’s alleged organizer is Timur Mindich, an associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio. He has evaded investigators. Journalists from the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda located him in Israel.
Separately, NABU and SAP conducted searches involving Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; The Insider reported that he subsequently submitted his resignation.
In July, Zelensky signed a law that would strip anti-corruption bodies - NABU and SAP - of their independence.
He later reversed the decision following mass protests in Ukraine and pressure from the European Union, which had threatened to halt financial aid to Kyiv.
