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Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s biggest oligarch, earmarks $2.0-2.5mn per month in payments to the President’s Office and the pro-presidential People’s Servant party​, which has the largest faction in parliament, the pravda.com.ua​ news site reported on September 23, citing one of Ukraine’s largest entrepreneurs (who was not identified). At the same time, the source said Akhmetov doesn’t have any loyal officials in either structure. In response, Akhmetov’s press service said the claim is “an absolute lie,” insisting the billionaire hasn’t been involved in politics since 2012. He is focused on charity and the Donetsk Shakhtar football club instead. In its turn, the President’s Office issued a statement labeling the report “obviously fake information,” urging journalists to refrain from sources that “above all use you to advance their narrow and not rare corrupt interests.”​ I​ hor Kolomoisky, another billionaire in Ukraine who is confirmed to have provided financing for Zelenskiy’s political party, engaged in reckless and dangerous investments in the US, many of, which involved funds that he is accused by the US Justice Department of illegally laundering out of Ukraine, according to an extensive report published on September 22 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. These investments involved the transfer of an estimated $750mn to the US to acquire at least 22 properties. In his wake, Kolomoisky and his associates left a trail of empty, boarded-up buildings, unpaid property taxes, dangerous factory conditions, unemployed workers, and at least four steel mills that filed for bankruptcy, ICIJ found. Under Kolomoisky’s ownership, hundreds of steelworkers in Kentucky, New York state and Ohio lost their jobs, court records state.
People’s Servant MP Yurchenko arrested for taking alleged bribe.​ ​MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, who was exposed for alleged bribery by an anti-corruption investigation, was placed under arrest on September 21 by the High Anti-Corruption Court, which set bail at UAH3.2mn. Yurchenko, who did not attend the September 18 hearing, denies the bribery charges against him, his lawyers said, as reported by the ​pravda.com.ua​ news site. “There is all the basis to believe and assert that the criminal violations – for, which cases have been opened – would not have occurred without the interference of law enforcement bodies, directly a National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) detective,” a lawyer said reportedly.​ ​The investigation of The People’s Servant MP – who was appointed to head the waste subcommittee of the parliamentary energy, housing and maintenance committee – was conducted by NABU, which published on September 15 its evidence that consisted of text messages and video recordings. The investigator paid a bribe to Ivan Fishchenko, a close associate to Yurchenko from their previous involvement in the Ukrop party, in exchange for amending legislation on waste recycling, NABU said. Yurchenko allegedly demanded $13,000 for the favor, received a second tranche of $50,000 in late August, and requested an additional $200,000 to bribe other members of the committee. The same day NABU published its evidence, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told parliament sufficient evidence was lacking in order for her office to issue him a notice of suspicion for bribery. NABU had the authority to issue Fishchenko a notice of suspicion on September 10, which was followed by his arrest on September 15. Yet the tide quickly turned against Yurchenko when The People’s Servant parliamentary faction voted on September 17 to exclude him from its ranks. By then, NABU had gained its notice of suspicion from Venediktova to issue to Yurchenko. President Zelenskiy made the bold statement that day, exceeding his authority, that Yurchenko would sit in prison.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russian President
16​ UKRAINE Country Report​ October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com