The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) dismissed a member of the Central Election Committee Yuriy Buglak, who, according to journalists, left for the USA before the invasion and received 1.5 million hryvnias from the state budget as a salary.
The MP from "Voice" party Yaroslav Zheleznyak writes that 300 MPs voted for the relevant resolution. In the context of the vote, he mentioned the journalistic investigation.
What is the investigation about?
On August 10, 2023, the "Schemes" project published an investigation into Central Committee member Yuriy Buglak, in which it claimed that the official left Ukraine 12 days before the full-scale Russian invasion and still has not returned from abroad. He lives in the USA, in the suburbs of Miami, and in a year and a half, he received 1.5 million hryvnias from the state budget. Of the specified sum, 230 000 hryvnias are assistance "for solving social and household issues" due to the birth of a child and "for recovery."
Buglak told reporters that telecommuting is not prohibited, so he can work from anywhere in the world.
"Tell me, is there a difference, for example, in the city of Uzhhorod or in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, or in the city of Vinnytsia, or in some foreign city, to work and receive a salary? What is the difference? In the city of Košice and the city of Uzhhorod. What difference does it make for an official if he has the right to work remotely?" Buglak noted.
On August 11, peopleʼs deputies from "Eurosolidarity" registered a resolution on Buglakʼs release, and the next day, the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada summoned the head of the Central Election Commission Oleh Didenko to explain the situation.
- Yuriy Buglak has been a member of the Central Election Commission since 2019. He is the former chief legal advisor of the “Roshen” confectionery corporation, a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko party.