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26.01.2026 12:52

The first criminal case against a member of parliament for receiving so-called “envelope payments” in exchange for voting in parliament was initiated by then Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova shortly before her dismissal in July 2022.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Oleksandr Klymenko, Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

“The first criminal proceedings against an MP were registered by former Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova toward the end of her time in office, based on complaints that had been filed at the end of 2021. This was the first episode that began to be investigated,” he noted.

“According to our data, after the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, MPs did not receive ‘envelope payments’ for some time. When we learned that they had resumed, we continued working in this direction. Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin and the current Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko periodically entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations regarding MPs. And in December 2025, we notified five MPs of suspicion,” Klymenko added.

Asked about the amounts MPs received in “envelopes,” the SAPO head said that before the full-scale invasion there were periods when such payments reached up to USD 20,000 per month.

“We are talking about specific MPs who have been served with notices of suspicion. According to the data we have, in the first half of 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, there were no such payments. Later they resumed, and MPs received USD 1,000–2,000 per month for voting in parliament on specific bills. Subsequently, the payments increased to USD 5,000. Penalties could also be imposed, in which case the ‘salary’ was reduced to USD 3,000,” Klymenko explained.

Asked why 3.5 years passed between the registration of the first criminal case against an MP and the announcement of suspicion, Klymenko said that not all prosecutors general are ready to immediately approve motions and grant permission for special investigative measures. In addition, it is not always possible to conduct such measures, as this requires control over the operational situation.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, at the end of 2021 the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Artem Sytnyk, said that the bureau had received more than ten complaints alleging that MPs were receiving money “in envelopes.”

According to media reports, on December 27, 2025, the NABU and SAPO notified five MPs from the Servant of the People faction – Yurii Kisiel, Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Nehulevskyi, Olha Savchenko, and Mykhailo Labi – of suspicion. The MPs are accused of receiving money in exchange for favorable votes in parliament.

Photo: Danylo Antoniuk / Ukrinform

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