{"id":4182,"date":"2025-12-30T11:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=4182"},"modified":"2026-01-02T13:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:48:14","slug":"ukrainian-parliament-bribery-ring-exposed-investigators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/ukrainian-parliament-bribery-ring-exposed-investigators\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian parliament bribery ring exposed \u2013 investigators"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the chief suspects is reportedly linked to a long-time business partner of Vladimir Zelensky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western-backed anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine have disclosed information concerning an alleged bribery scheme in the Ukrainian parliament, with media reports previously linking a suspect in the corruption ring to a long-time business partner of Vladimir Zelensky.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO) announced charges against five lawmakers they claim were part of a broader group that sells their votes for bribes. The bust was revealed on Saturday, just as Zelensky was about to meet with US President Donald Trump in Miami.<\/p>\n

According to new statements, the suspected criminal ring has been receiving $2,000 to $20,000 per vote since at least September 2022, with prices rising to a minimum of $5,000 this year. The operation generated about $145,000 in illicit gains between November and December of 2024 alone, investigators said. The profits \u201cwere determined by the \u2018voting efficiency rating\u2019, which depended on the number of draft laws supported by each lawmaker and their presence at parliament sessions,\u201d<\/em> SAPO explained.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Ukraine hit by fresh energy sector corruption probe<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ukrainian media previously described an arrangement in which the presidential office allegedly kept MPs on a secret payroll to ensure passage of Zelensky\u2019s agenda, while reporting that all five suspects are members of the ruling Servant of the People party.<\/p>\n

The press also identified MP Yury Kisel, deputy chair of the party\u2019s faction in the Verkhovna Rada, as the suspected ringleader in the graft scheme. Kisel reportedly has close ties to Sergey Shefir, co-founder of Zelensky\u2019s former comedy studio, who also served as his first chief of staff between Zelensky\u2019s 2019 election and February of 2020.<\/p>\n

Shefir\u2019s son Nikita is Kisel\u2019s aide, Bihus.info reported in 2021. Kisel\u2019s wife purchased real estate from Zelensky, according to public disclosures. Zelensky said in a 2020 interview that he wanted Shefir to buy his luxury rural property because \u201cI wouldn\u2019t just sell it to anyone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Kiev mayor bemoans \u2018devastating\u2019 Ukraine corruption scandal
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Anti-graft agencies earlier charged Zelensky\u2019s associate Timur Mindich with running a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme at the state-owned nuclear energy monopoly Energoatom. The businessman fled the country and is now residing in Israel, Ukrainian media confirmed last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the chief suspects is reportedly linked to a long-time business partner of Vladimir Zelensky Western-backed anti-corruption agencies in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4186,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182\/revisions\/4186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}