Law Enforcement Raid Ukraine’s Ex-PM Party’s Headquarters
Late Tuesday, detectives from the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said they were probing a parliamentary faction leader, stopping short of identifying the suspect.
By Wednesday morning, Timoshenko confirmed that offices of her Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party were searched overnight. She rejected the allegations, calling the action a “grandiose publicity stunt” and insisting no laws were broken.
Hours later, NABU announced formal charges against a female suspect accused of setting up “a mechanism for regular long-term payments” to lawmakers acting on her instructions. The announcement followed a string of high-stakes votes in the Verkhovna Rada tied to Vladimir Zelensky’s latest government reshuffle.
Investigators have described the case as exposing a bribery network inside parliament.
Over a decades-long political career, Timoshenko has repeatedly faced criminal cases. Under former President Viktor Yanukovich, she was convicted of abuse of power and jailed for more than a year before being released early after the Western-backed Maidan uprising ousted him.
Votes from Batkivshchina lawmakers have played a decisive role in recent legislative battles, including last summer’s passage of a bill that stripped NABU and SAPO of their independence. Zelensky later reversed that move under pressure from Western allies, faulting legislators—mostly from his own party—who supported the amendments.
On Tuesday, Timoshenko and other members of her faction backed Zelensky’s request to remove Vasily Malyuk as head of the domestic security service (SBU), securing enough votes for approval. The shake-up followed a NABU corruption probe into Ukraine’s energy sector that forced the resignation of two ministers and Andrey Yermak, the president’s longtime chief of staff.
Meanwhile, parliament failed to rally behind Zelensky’s preferred nominee for energy minister, former Prime Minister Denis Shmigal, after lawmakers agreed to oust him as defense minister. Deputies also declined to confirm a new head of the Defense Ministry.
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