Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Accused of Bribery in New Report

Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Accused of Bribery and Vote-Buying Scheme

Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister from 2005 to 2010, has been accused by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) of bribing members of parliament and running a vote-buying scheme. According to NABU, the charges were served on an opposition party chief after exposing several other lawmakers as part of a “systemic” plot to receive payments in exchange for votes.

The probe, which was conducted by SAPO and NABU officers, targeted Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna political party. A source confirmed that Tymoshenko was the subject of the investigation. The opposition leader has denied all accusations but did not specifically address the probe in a Facebook post.

Tymoshenko rose to prominence as a leader of the pro-democratic Orange Revolution two decades ago and served as Ukraine’s prime minister twice. Her political influence has significantly diminished since then, with her party holding approximately 24 seats in Ukraine’s legislature.

The probe into Tymoshenko is part of an ongoing anticorruption campaign in Ukraine that has also ensnared senior ministers and opposition lawmakers. The investigation comes amid efforts to curb corruption, which remains a crucial condition for Ukraine’s European Union membership bid.

In November, NABU unveiled an alleged $100m kickback scheme in the energy sector involving a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Last July, the president passed a bill aimed at curbing the independence of anticorruption agencies, but after widespread protests and reports from NABU, he urged full cooperation with the investigation.

Source: Al Jazeera