The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has granted bail to the MP Yuriy Kisel in the case of so-called paid votes.
Kisel himself reported this in a comment to Suspilne.
According to him, the defense plans to file an appeal.
The court hearing is being held behind closed doors. The corresponding motion was supported by both the prosecutor and the suspectʼs lawyer.
Yuriy Kisel does not admit guilt and denies receiving any illegal benefit. He confirmed the existence of a WhatsApp group with the participation of part of the “Servant of the People” faction, but noted that no corruption issues were discussed there.
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.
Babelʼs sources in the “Servant of the People” faction told us on December 28 that three “Servant of the People” MPs were suspected of bribery for voting at parliamentary sessions. These are MPs Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Nehulevsky, and Yuriy Kisel.
Before 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 Security 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 Koryavchenkovʼs house 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.
On December 29, law enforcement officers announced suspicions against five peopleʼs deputies who organized the systematic receipt of bribes for the "necessary" vote in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
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