Three MPs from the “Servant of the People” party were suspected of bribery for voting at meetings of the Verkhovna Rada.
Babel was informed about this by sources in the "Servant of the People" faction.
These are deputies Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Nehulevsky, and Yuriy Kisel. Neither NABU nor SAPO officially named them, nor did they publicly report any suspicions in this case.
Interlocutors of Babel specify that the peopleʼs deputies were suspected under Article 368 of the Criminal Code (bribery). This concerns proceedings from 2021. ZN.UA previously wrote that Articles 255 (creation and participation in a criminal organization) and 369 (giving a bribe to an official) are also indicated in the case.
The press service of SAPO told Babel that they do not yet have information about the suspicions. NABU did not respond to questions at the time of publication of the news.
What is known about the case?
On December 27, NABU and SAPO reported that they had exposed an organized criminal group that included current members of parliament. According to the investigation, the group members systematically received bribes for voting in the Verkhovna Rada.
Later, it became known that law enforcement officers came to search the Verkhovna Radaʼs Transport and Infrastructure Committee. Kisel heads this committee, and Nehulevsky is the head of a subcommittee within it. NABU complained that employees of the State Protection Department did not let detectives into the building.
ZN.UA also mentioned in the context of this case MP Yuriy Koryavchenkov, who, according to media sources, left Ukraine. NABU later stated that Koryavchenkov was not searched. The media also claimed that Taras Melnychuk, the head of the secretariat of the “Servant of the People” faction in the Verkhovna Rada, was interrogated.
Back on December 11, ZN.UA journalists wrote that NABU wiretapped Yuriy Kisel and recorded his confidential contacts not only with former first assistant to the president Serhiy Shefir, but also with numerous other high-ranking officials sensitive to Bankova.
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