According to prosecutors, opposition leader Tymoshenko offered money to several lawmakers in return for their support of specific parliamentary decisions. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) says this was not a series of one-off arrangements but rather a systematic operation involving regular payments and explicit voting instructions designed to influence the legislature’s work. The developments come after proceedings were launched in December against several lawmakers from President Zelensky’s party, as reported by the Financial Times.
Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities are accusing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of vote-buying. The opposition politician has firmly denied the allegations.
NABU confirmed that it conducted a raid at the office of “the leader of an opposition party.”
As previously reported, Tymoshenko dismissed the accusations as “politically motivated,” saying through her spokesperson that the search of her office was “nothing more than a grand PR stunt” with “no connection whatsoever to the law or justice.” “I categorically reject these absurd allegations,” she was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.
Sources familiar with the case told the paper that the pixelated, blonde-haired woman shown in a video released by NABU is indeed Tymoshenko.
The case further deepens a political scandal that has been unfolding since late last year. The investigation also involves several sitting lawmakers, including members of President Zelensky’s governing party, whom NABU has accused of fraud. The Financial Times notes that Tymoshenko is a determined political rival of Zelensky, although—like many Ukrainian political leaders—she has largely refrained from openly criticizing the president since the outbreak of the war.
Over the past year, however, she has taken a more critical tone, particularly regarding the agreement signed in April by Kyiv and Washington that grants the United States special access to Ukraine’s critical mineral resources.
The paper also points out that Tymoshenko supported a widely criticized law pushed through parliament by Zelensky and his party in July, which reduced the powers of NABU and its sister organization, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Following public protests and Western criticism, the decision was later reversed.
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