Ukraine anti-corruption agency raids Parliament offices

KYIV – Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency said security services tried to prevent officers from raiding Parliament offices on Dec 27, as investigators said some MPs were implicated in a new graft probe.

The anti-corruption detectives were later allowed into the heavily guarded compound where the Parliament is located, Ukraine’s State Security Department said on Facebook.

Ukraine has been embroiled in a string of corruption scandals that led to the resignation of the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, including a US$100 million (S$128 million) kickback scheme in the battered energy sector. The scheme was masterminded by an alleged personal friend of the President.

“NABU and SAPO, following an undercover operation, exposed an organised criminal group that included current Members of Parliament,” the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said, referring to the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

“Employees of the State Security Department are resisting NABU officers during investigative actions in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” it added, referring to Ukraine’s Parliament.

The anti-corruption agency did not reveal details of the investigation, but said suspects took bribes for votes.

The investigation became public as Mr Zelensky departed for talks in the US about efforts to formulate a plan to end the war in Ukraine, and after Russia sent scores of drones and missiles against the capital Kyiv, killing one and wounding dozens.

The corruption scandals have triggered widespread public anger at a time when Russia is hammering Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and threatening winter heating outages.

These challenges come at a critical time for Mr Zelensky, who has remained popular and largely unchallenged since Russia invaded in 2022.

The US is pushing Mr Zelensky to cede territory and hold elections during the war, amid a mounting Russian offensive in the east of the country.

The Ukrainian President had in the summer tried to strip the independence of Ukraine’s two key anti-graft agencies, NABU and SAPO, established after a pro-Western revolution in 2014.

This triggered rare wartime anti-government protests and forced Mr Zelensky to walk back the decision after criticism from the European Union, Kyiv’s key financial and military backer.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been plagued by frequent corruption scandals – with graft and rule-of-law major vulnerabilities in Kyiv’s EU bid. AFP