On March 13, the HACC began questioning MP Serhii Labaziuk, who is standing trial on charges of attempting to bribe Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksandr Kubrakov and Head of the State Agency for Restoration Mustafa Nayyem.
At the start of his uninterrupted testimony, the defendant said that his company, URD JSC, had once been a market leader in Khmelnytskyi region. However, due to the full-scale war, the loss of assets in Kherson region, and substantial debts, the business had ended up on the brink of bankruptcy. Labaziuk said that, because he had long-standing friendly relations with Kubrakov, he met with him and with Nayyem on multiple occasions throughout 2023 in an effort to restore the company’s operations.
According to the MP, Nayyem would redirect him to Kubrakov, saying, “Serhii, you need to speak to Sasha,” while Kubrakov, in turn, insisted that he had no influence over the process. Labaziuk said that during official meetings in “specially prepared locations,” he felt pressure and sensed a certain “game” being played — as though he was being made to understand that he would not be able to work without showing loyalty. He described a meeting in a park, arranged by Kubrakov through an assistant. Labaziuk claimed that the venue had been changed at the last minute from a restaurant to a park, and that he had been asked to leave his phones with security guards. Since Kubrakov had done the same, he said, it did not initially raise any alarm. The MP also referred to other meetings with Kubrakov and Nayyem during which he felt that “the whole process was staged.”
The defendant said he had entrusted the handling of business matters to Denys Nazimov, the head of URD, after first instructing him to prepare a strong presentation on the company’s achievements. However, according to Labaziuk, Nazimov later told him that Nayyem had shown no interest in the projects and had instead demanded “figures.” The MP said he took this as an unmistakable hint that an undue advantage was being sought.
Describing Kubrakov as a “master of destroying businesses,” Labaziuk also alleged that pressure had been exerted on him to sell an enterprise he had purchased in the Chernihiv region. He portrayed the situation as an ultimatum: “either we work, or money has to be paid.” He claimed that he had offered to hand over 50% of the company’s profits, hoping that the money would be taken from profit rather than from the budget.
At the end of his testimony, Labaziuk admitted that, because of the pressure and the threat of bankruptcy, he had intended to “pay money in order to get up and running.” At first, he planned to hand over the USD 10,000–15,000 that he had in his car. Later, however, deciding that the amount was “too small and would not satisfy them,” he collected another USD 150,000 from the office and placed it in a box for transfer. He stressed that he did not consider this a bribe, because he had acted under pressure created by artificial obstacles to the company’s work.
Labaziuk is currently being questioned by the prosecutor.
