The lawmakers are suspected of running an illegal vote-rigging scheme
Dozens of Ukrainian lawmakers have been implicated in vote rigging, the head of the country’s Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) told the media on Monday.
In late December, the anti-graft agency reported busting a bribery ring in parliament, in the most recent high-profile corruption scandal to shake Ukraine in recent months.
“In total, SAPO has implicated 41 deputies of the ninth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada,” Aleksandr Klimenko said, using the Ukrainian name for the national legislature.
Over the past decade, SAPO and its sister agency – Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) – have implicated some 79 former and current Ukrainian lawmakers, he added.
According to Klimenko, anti-graft agencies uncovered a scheme in which numerous Rada deputies received cash bribes of up to $5,000 for their votes over several years.
NABU and SAPO made the announcement with Ukraine still reeling from a massive corruption scandal in the state nuclear operator Energoatom, which implicated Vladimir Zelensky’s long-time associate, Timur Mindich. Two ministers and the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak resigned in the wake of the revelations.
Zelensky’s Servant of the People party has held a voting majority in the current, ninth Rada, since it was elected in a snap vote in 2019. However, Zelensky has refused to call parliamentary or presidential elections since, citing martial law amid the Ukraine conflict. Earlier this month, he moved to extend martial law and general mobilization another 90 days, effectively postponing the polls once again.
Moscow maintains that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader, as his term expired in May 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Zelensky’s status leaves the legality of any peace deal signed with him in doubt.
