Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies reveal vote-buying scheme in Parliament

MADRID, December 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency (NABU) and its deputy prosecutor’s office (SAPO) announced on Saturday that they had discovered a vote-buying system in the national parliament in which several active deputies are involved, for the moment without giving names.

“Following a sting operation, NABU and SAPO unmasked an organized criminal group that included serving MPs,” NABU announced on its Telegram account.

“According to the investigation, members of the group systematically received illegal benefits for voting in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” added NABU, which will provide more details soon.

The two agencies’ priority mission is to uncover the slightest corruption scandal likely to jeopardize the Ukrainian government’s commitment to fighting this type of crime.

The penultimate of these directly hit Volodimir Zelensky’s government, when businessman Timur Mindich used his close relationships with high-ranking officials, such as Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, to obtain “significant amounts of money” through public contracts.

It is so far the biggest corruption scandal in the Ukrainian government since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, although other plots have been uncovered in the meantime, such as the one involving the Defense Ministry in 2023.