The leader of one of the factions in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, offered lawmakers an illegal benefit in exchange for voting “for” or “against” specific bills, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
“NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have exposed the leader of one of the parliamentary factions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for offering illegal benefits to a number of lawmakers,” NABU said in a statement published on Telegram.
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According to investigators, the suspect offered bribes to lawmakers from other factions in return for their votes “for” or “against” certain legislative initiatives.
NABU has not publicly named the suspect. However, Ukrainian media reported that NABU and SAPO were conducting searches at the headquarters of the Batkivshchyna party.
Oleksiy Honcharenko, a lawmaker from the European Solidarity faction, claimed on Telegram that the investigation involves Batkivshchyna leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who rose to worldwide fame during the 2004-05 Orange Revolution, after which she became prime minister.
“This is Yulia Tymoshenko. She was negotiating with several deputies about switching to or informally joining the Batkivshchyna faction in exchange for money,” Honcharenko wrote.
According to him, some of the lawmakers involved had recorded the negotiations and later handed the materials over to NABU.
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Later, the Ukrainian Pravda outlet, citing sources in political circles, reported that anti-corruption authorities had formally notified Tymoshenko of suspicion.
Tymoshenko herself confirmed that searches had been carried out at the Batkivshchyna party office.
“The so-called ‘urgent investigative actions’ that lasted all night have ended at the Batkivshchyna party office. These ‘urgent investigative actions’ have nothing to do with law and order. More than 30 men, armed to the teeth and without presenting any documents, effectively seized the building and took the employees hostage,” she wrote on Facebook.
“The last time Yanukovych’s stormtroopers stormed us in this way was during the Revolution of Dignity. But even then, they at least covered up their invasion with some kind of paperwork from the Pechersk Court. This time, there was nothing of the sort,” Tymoshenko added.
Tymoshenko had been imprisoned in 2011 by then President Viktor Yanukovych for having negotiated a disadvantageous gas deal while serving as prime minister. Widely considered a politically motivated arrest, she was released within days of Yanukovych’s having fled the country in 2014 during the Revolution of Dignity.
The lawmaker described the search as a “grandiose PR move.” She said that nothing was found during the operation, but that law enforcement officers seized her work phones, parliamentary documents, and personal savings – “all of which are fully reflected in the official declaration.”
“I categorically reject all these absurd accusations. It seems that the elections are much closer than it appeared, and someone has decided to start eliminating competitors,” Tymoshenko added.
In late December 2025, NABU and SAPO, as part of a special undercover operation, exposed a group of parliamentarians suspected of selling votes in the Verkhovna Rada.
According to sources cited by RBC-Ukraine outlet, the suspects include lawmakers Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Nehulevsky, Olha Savchenko, Yuriy Kysil, and Mykhailo Laba.
On Jan. 1, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court imposed preventive measures on the suspects in the form of bail.
Two of the MPs were released on bail of Hr.40 million ($900,000) and Hr.30 million, two others were granted bail of Hr. 20 million each, while the fifth suspect was released on bail of Hr.16.6 million.
The NABU later confirmed that it had issued a notice of suspicion to the head of a parliamentary faction in the Rada, still without naming the individual, and made public recordings obtained through wiretapping.
“NABU and the SAPO have reported a notice of suspicion to the head of one of the parliamentary factions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for offering illegal benefits to people’s deputies of Ukraine,” the bureau said in a statement.
The report adds that after anti-corruption authorities exposed, in December 2025, similar cases of lawmakers receiving illegal benefits in exchange for voting in parliament, the suspect allegedly decided to create her own scheme.
According to NABU, she held negotiations with individual people’s deputies on establishing “a systematic mechanism for providing illegal benefits in exchange for loyal behavior during voting.”
Investigators say the scheme was not based on one-off agreements, but on a regular mechanism of cooperation that envisaged advance monthly payments and was designed to operate over a long period.
“People’s deputies were expected to receive instructions on how to vote, and in some cases, on abstaining or not participating in voting at all,” the report states.
NABU also published recordings of wiretapped conversations in which the suspect is heard negotiating with the lawmaker and planning the alleged scheme.
According to the published recordings, three deputies were allegedly offered $10,000 per month in exchange for the required votes. The materials suggest that lawmakers voted to remove ministers on instruction, while certain new appointments were deliberately blocked by refusing to vote.
At the end of the video released by NABU, the suspect is shown with her face blurred, though Yulia Tymoshenko is recognizable.
Despite being served with a notice of suspicion, Tymoshenko addressed parliament later the same day.
According to the lawmaker, searches at her office began at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 13, when she was alone on the premises.
“There was no security and no strangers. At 9:30 p.m., a huge number of people in full gear, carrying weapons, burst in. They arrived in five buses. What were more than 30 people, arriving on five buses, coming to seize from an unguarded person alone in her office?” she said.
Tymoshenko said she was informed that a search would be conducted, but that no documents authorizing it were presented.
“The head of the group said, ‘There are no documents and they are not needed, because these are special investigative actions that do not require anything.’ He showed only an extract from the Unified Register on his phone,” the MP added.
She also said she asked to be allowed to call a lawyer, but was allegedly told: “No lawyer. We will conduct the searches immediately.”
“All the people who were in the office - ordinary employees - were blocked without exception. Their phones were taken away, along with everything they had, without any explanation. Then this huge number of men began turning the office upside down. They swept all the papers off the tables and put them into bags,” Tymoshenko said.
Tymoshenko added that law enforcement officers were allegedly searching for a safe.
“I asked how they knew there was a safe there. They started turning over all the drawers. Yes, there were some small savings, but they are declared. I keep my savings there because I sometimes need them. Is that a crime? Let them read my declaration,” Tymoshenko said.
She also suggested that her private phone could now be used to broadcast some of her “emotional or personal conversations.”
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