Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency said security services were preventing officers from raiding the parliament on Saturday, as investigators said some lawmakers were implicated in a new graft probe.
Ukraine was embroiled in a string of corruption scandals that led to the resignation of the chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky. They also revealed a $100 million kickback scheme in the battered energy sector, masterminded by an alleged personal friend of the president, Timur Mindich.
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“NABU and SAPO, following an undercover operation, exposed an organized criminal group that included current members of parliament,” the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said.
“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 related to the investigation.
Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda media outlet Mykhailo Tkach said in a social media post that detectives were allowed into the government quarters.
The investigation became public as 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.
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Katarina Kosegyova, a 60-year-old employee, said she joined the protest to stand up against the government which “is pulling us towards Russia”.
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.
They also come at a sensitive moment for Zelensky, when he is trying to negotiate better conditions for Ukraine in the US-brokered peace talks, amid the mounting Russian offensive.
Shortly after the raid became public NABU posted on its Telegram channel: “In response to numerous media inquiries, we would like to inform you that NABU and SAPO are currently not conducting searches at the residence of People’s Deputy of Ukraine Yuriy Koryavchenkov.”
Koryavchenkov worked with President Zelensky’s production studio Kvartal-95. In 2019 was elected to parliament in Zelensky’s Servant of the People party.