NABU caught ‘Servant of the People’ MP Kuznetsov taking a bribe

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has detained Oleksiy Kuznetsov, a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” party, on charges of bribery.

He is suspected of involvement in a large-scale corruption scheme related to the procurement of drones and electronic warfare equipment for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Among other individuals implicated are senior officials from district and city military-civil administrations, as well as servicemembers of the National Guard.

This was reported by NABU’s press service.

According to investigators, the scheme involved signing government contracts with suppliers at deliberately inflated prices — up to 30% of the contract value was allegedly returned to the participants as illegal kickbacks.

It was specifically noted that this operation became possible due to the recent adoption of Law No. 4560-IX by the Verkhovna Rada, which restored the powers of anti-corruption agencies.

Additionally, according to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (Mirror of the Week), which cited sources, one of those detained by NABU in connection with MP Kuznetsov’s case is former Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai.

The newspaper reports that President Zelensky had been planning to appoint Haidai as the head of either Ivano-Frankivsk or Poltava Oblast in the near future.

The outlet also states that two more individuals were detained — the head of the Mukachevo District Administration and a private businessman.

Earlier today, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that he had met with the heads of NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), Semen Kryvonos and Oleksandr Klymenko.

Following the meeting, Zelensky confirmed that one MP, along with district and city officials and National Guard servicemen, had been caught in a bribery scheme.