Bribery-for-votes allegations rock Ukraine’s parliament, investigators say

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office have announced that they have uncovered an organised criminal group that, according to investigators, included sitting members of Ukraine’s parliament.

The law enforcement agencies said the group was involved in taking bribes in exchange for parliamentary votes.

According to a statement cited by Caliber.Az, investigators believe the participants systematically received illegal payments in return for supporting specific decisions in the Verkhovna Rada. The authorities have not yet disclosed the number of suspects involved or provided detailed information about the case.

Earlier, Member of Parliament Oleksiy Honcharenko reported that officers from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau had entered Kyiv’s government quarter, a development that drew public attention to the investigation.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of a major corruption probe revealed in November 2025, when the anti-corruption agencies reported dismantling a large-scale scheme in Ukraine’s energy sector. Detectives identified businessman Timur Mindich as the alleged head of that scheme. Mindich is known as a former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Investigators have also named Oleksandr Tsukerman, a 61-year-old businessman, as another key figure in the case. Tsukerman reportedly left Ukraine before he could be detained. According to the investigation, he acted as a co-organiser of the energy-sector schemes alongside Mindich and a so-called “back-office” operative involved in laundering illicit funds.

The scandal led to the dismissal of two ministers who appeared in controversial recordings, as well as the removal of Andriy Yermak from his position as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

More recently, the central office of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau placed both Timur Mindich and Oleksandr Tsukerman on its wanted list.

By Tamilla Hasanova