NABU and SAPO reported suspicions to five MPs, whom the investigation considers to be participants in an organized scheme to receive bribes for voting results in the Verkhovna Rada. This is reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
As noted by NABU, this concerns the activities of a criminal group that operated within the parliament and provided illegal benefits for the adoption or blocking of decisions.
“NABU and SAPO reported suspicions of members of an organized criminal group that operated in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and provided illegal benefits for people’s deputies for the “necessary” voting”, the report says.
According to the investigation, the group had a clear hierarchy, distributed functions and a coordinator from among the current people’s deputies. Officials of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s staff were also involved in the scheme. A specially created group on the WhatsApp messenger was used to organize the votes, where participants were sent the numbers of draft laws and instructions on voting.
After the decisions were made, money was regularly transferred to individual people’s deputies. Currently, five people’s deputies are suspects in the case, all of them have been served with petitions for the election of preventive measures. The criminal proceedings are qualified under Part 3 of Article 28 and Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported that the investigation is examining the circumstances of the creation and operation of an organized group since 2021, the purpose of which was to systematically obtain illegal benefits for the adoption or rejection of draft laws. Some of the participants were responsible for control, coordination and provision of information on the necessary decisions, while others ensured the implementation of instructions and mandatory presence in the session hall.
The amount of the illegal benefit, according to the SAP, depended on the so-called “voting efficiency indicator” and ranged from 2 thousand to 20 thousand US dollars. In particular, from September to November 2022, the amounts were 2 thousand dollars, and at least from August 2025 – already 5 thousand US dollars. The money was distributed, as a rule, every Thursday at the beginning of the following month based on the results of the organizer’s instructions.
During the investigative and covert investigative actions, it was recorded that from November to December of this year, one of the people’s deputies – members of this organized group – received an illegal benefit in the amount of at least 145 thousand dollars with the subsequent distribution of funds among other deputies.
