Case description
MP Oleksandr Yurchenko is suspected of taking a bribe for amending legislation in favor of a foreign company and subsequently bribing other MPs. Yurchenko faces 8 to 12 years in prison.
Oleksandr Yurchenko was the chair of the Rada's subcommittee on household waste management of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities.
According to the investigation's version, Yurchenko, in a disguised manner, requested USD 13,000 (kickbacks) for himself and USD 200,000 for other committee members to be transferred through his assistant Ivan Fishchenko to vote for legislative changes favorable to a foreign company. Specifically, we are talking about a “green tariff” for electricity for companies that recycle waste.
Prior to that, in the summer of 2020, the NABU received information about an organized group of MPs involved in influence peddling. Then, as part of a special operation, an undercover NABU detective exposed Yurchenko's corruption scheme. Having chosen the role of a representative of an industrial company that allegedly wanted to open a waste processing plant in Ukraine, the detective met Yurchenko through an intermediary.
In early August 2020, the detective handed over the first part of the bribe to an intermediary. Later, the special operation was terminated, as the NABU stated that someone had informed the defendants.
Serving the MP with a suspicion notice was delayed for a week by the then Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. The NABU had urged her to sign the notice of suspicion, but she did so only a week after receiving the document from the National Bureau. At the same time, Venediktova initially stated that there were no grounds to serve Yurchenko with a suspicion notice.
Oleksandr Yurchenko was expelled from the Servant of the People faction on suspicion of bribery, but he still holds the mandate of a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Yurchenko pleaded not guilty, and later the case mentioned incitement.
In July 2021, the MP got involved in a scandal. Journalists reported that Yurchenko had committed an accident in the center of Lviv and attacked a driver who was filming the situation on his phone. The MP tried to flee the accident scene, but was unable to. Later it became known that Yurchenko was in a state of drug intoxication.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Yurchenko again was in the spotlight because he was detained by representatives of the terrorist defense forces at one of the checkpoints for aggressive behavior.
When an interim measure was being chosen for him, he denied all charges, stating that he had nothing to do with the case file, did not take money, and did not incite anyone.
