Photo: Anti-Corruption Action Centre
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on September 11 found former lawmaker Oleksandr Yurchenko guilty of bribery related to lobbying for legislative amendments. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, Transparency International Ukraine reported.
The court also banned Yurchenko from holding positions in state authorities and local government for three years and ordered the confiscation of his property.
At the same time, the court released him from punishment under the charge of inducing the provision of an undue benefit under Part 2 of Article 369 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code because the statute of limitations had expired.
The HACC also left unchanged his UAH 3 million bail until the verdict enters into force.
Case dates back to 2020
The case against Yurchenko became public in September 2020, when Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced suspicion against the then-member of parliament.
According to investigators, Yurchenko allegedly used his parliamentary aide to demand a $13,000 bribe from a representative of a foreign company for introducing amendments to legislation on household waste management, plus another $200,000 for supporting those amendments in a parliamentary committee.
His aide, Ivan Feshchuk, was detained by NABU detectives.
Yurchenko subsequently submitted his resignation from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction and was expelled from the faction.
On September 21, 2020, the HACC ordered Yurchenko’s detention with an alternative UAH 3 million bail.
