MP from ruling party freed on bail in corruption probe, to wear ankle monitor

MP from ruling party freed on bail in corruption probe / Photo from UNIAN

Ukrainian MP from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction Oleksandr Yurchenko has been released on bail in a bribery case and will be wearing an ankle monitor.

"Yurchenko posted bail and got an ankle monitor – an electronic means of control. The bail was posted yesterday," the press service of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) told UNIAN.

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• The National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) during a sting operation involving an undercover detective established that the MP had allegedly demanded through an intermediary US$13,000 for submitting proposals to the draft law on solid waste recycling and another $200,000 for bribing parliamentary committee members to approve the proposals to be filed.
• On September 15, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced in parliament that she saw no reason to serve Yurchenko with charge papers in the bribery case.
• The SAPO said that the aide to the lawmaker, Ivan Feshchenko, had been served with charge papers and is suspected of complicity in the bribery case involving a Member of Parliament. According to the investigation, the aide acted as an intermediary in obtaining US$13,000 for submitting the proposals. He is also charged with the solicitation of a further US$200,000 bribe. The court ruled to arrest Feshchenko, setting bail of over UAH 1 million. He was eventually bailed out and got out of the detention center.
• On September 17, Venediktova officially pressed criminal charges against Yurchenko and signed a motion to the court asking to remand him in custody. He is facing charges under Part 4 of Article 368, Part 4 of Article 27 and Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code.
• The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine on September 21 partly satisfied the prosecutors' motion and ruled to remand in custody Yurchenko, who had been charged in a corruption-related criminal investigation. The bail was set at UAH 3,001,656 (US$106,253), instead of UAH 6 million (US$212,389) initially sought by prosecutors.