Case description
The NABU accuses former MPs Maksym Poliakov, Borys Rozenblat, and several others of receiving USD 300,000 in bribes to help a foreign company extract amber in Ukraine. The media called this case “amber.”
Back in 2016, the NABU launched a special operation with the participation of an undercover detective, agent “Kateryna.” She chose the role of a representative of Fujairah, a foreign construction company from the UAE, which allegedly planned to invest resources in legal amber mining in Ukraine and its legal export. “Kateryna” contacted the defendants in the case and shared her plans with them subject to changes in Ukrainian legislation in this area.
The investigation established the involvement of former MPs Maksym Poliakov and Borys Rozenblat. The latter allegedly introduced the necessary draft law for USD 300,000 and received bribes gradually through intermediaries. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, MPs were accused of lobbying legislation in the interests of third parties and receiving more than USD 300,000 in bribes for doing so.
Poliakov's assistant, Tetiana Liubonko, and lawyer Viktor Kosianchuk are also involved in the case, while the head of the organization MPs' Control Vadym Rudenko, and former assistant to the Radical Party MP Kostiantyn Proskurko were exempted from liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Since all the events revolved around the extraction and sale of amber, the media called these proceedings the "amber case."
According to the prosecution, Poliakov and Rosenblat received a bribe for assisting a foreign company in amber mining in Ukraine. The NABU agent “Kateryna” was allegedly a representative of a foreign construction company called Fujairah, which planned to invest in legal amber mining in Ukraine and its legal export.
Poliakov is charged with Article 368, part 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, while Rosenblat is charged with Article 368, part 4, Article 369-2, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Poliakov's assistant Tatiana Liubonko is charged with Article 27, part 5, Article 368, part 4 of the Criminal Code, and Kosianchuk— with Article 28, part 2, Article 369-2, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Before the HACC started its work, the case was heard by the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv. The preparatory hearing in the HACC lasted almost 4 years: from November 2019 to September 2023. The case is now at the stage of court proceedings.
