Ukraine exposes Kyiv crime ring led by parliament member

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) have exposed an organised crime group in Kyiv headed by a Ukrainian MP suspected of accepting a large bribe.

Law enforcement sources told Ukrainska Pravda that the MP in question is Anna Skorokhod of the For the Future party, Caliber.Az reports.

Authorities are currently conducting searches at her premises. Sources reported that investigators have documented instances in which Skorokhod, together with accomplices, allegedly demanded $250,000 from a businessman.

Skorokhod previously drew attention on November 14, 2019, when, as a Servant of the People MP, she accused the government of detaining her husband, Oleksiy Alyakin, due to her voting against the party line. She linked the arrest to her opposition to a draft law opening the land market in its first reading.

At the same time, faction head Davyd Arakhamia accused Skorokhod of offering bribes and claimed she was lobbying for the interests of “specific oligarchic groups” in parliament. Arakhamia warned he would seek her expulsion from the faction.

In response, Skorokhod alleged that MPs were reportedly receiving $5,000 in envelopes.

Following the controversy, the Servant of the People faction decided to expel her. She subsequently joined the For the Future parliamentary group, which is linked to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.

Servant of the People was officially registered on December 2, 2017, and emerged as a political force tied to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose prior fame came from a satirical TV series of the same name.

In the early parliamentary elections of July 2019, Servant of the People won a historic outright majority: roughly 43 % of the party-list vote, and many single-mandate seats — enough to give it full control of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament), the first time a single party achieved this in post-Soviet Ukraine.

Despite its strong start, over the time the cohesion and reputation of Servant of the People has weakened: a number of MPs elected under its banner, including Anna Skorokhod, were expelled or left the faction, often amid disputes over votes or allegations of lobbying or corruption.

By Jeyhun Aghazada