Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency (NABU) on Saturday accused several MPs of accepting bribes in exchange for their vote in Parliament and attempting to search government offices in kyiv, a new scandal revealed just after President Volodymyr Zelensky left for the United States. NABU indicated on Telegram that it had “uncovered an organized criminal group including current members of Parliament” who “systematically received illegal advantages to vote in the Rada”.
Investigators attempted to search the premises of parliamentary committees in kyiv but were prevented from doing so by security forces, this body said. “Hindering investigative actions constitutes a direct violation of the law,” she warned. The state security service then indicated on Facebook that NABU investigators “were authorized to enter the government quarter”, where the premises of many institutions are located. NABU did not say whether any arrests had been made in the case.
Zelensky leaves for Florida
This new corruption scandal within the Ukrainian state erupts just after Volodymyr Zelensky’s departure for Florida, where he is to meet his American counterpart Donald Trump as part of negotiations on the plan to end the war with Russia. The Ukrainian presidency had already been destabilized by a vast corruption scandal relating to the alleged embezzlement of nearly 100 million dollars in the energy sector involving a close friend of Volodymyr Zelensky, who is now on the run abroad. This affair had prompted the resignation of two ministers and the powerful head of the presidential administration Andriï Iermak, also cited, who was the privileged negotiator with Washington.
Although Ukraine has an anti-corruption agency, the NABU, and a specialized prosecutor’s office, the SAP, the cases revealed rarely result in legal convictions. Created in 2014 under European and American pressure, the NABU is a body with only investigative powers and whose director is appointed by the cabinet of ministers, but which enjoys independence within the Ukrainian apparatus.
This summer, the presidency attempted to deprive the NABU and the SAP of their independence by subordinating their activities to the Attorney General, who himself answers to Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter had to backtrack in the face of the outcry within civil society and among kyiv’s Western allies. This attempt provoked the first large-scale demonstrations in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.
Corruption is endemic in Ukraine as in many other countries of the former USSR, notably Russia. Since the Russian invasion began in 2022, multiple affairs have come to light, including in the military and defense sector. Anti-corruption activists complain of being subject to political pressure and judicial harassment aimed at hindering their work.
