MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Former Prime Minister and Batkovshchina party leader Yulia Timoshenko, who is charged with bribing MPs, said from the rostrum of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, that the country has become a hub of corruption under Vladimir Zelensky.
"We have fought and will continue to fight against dirty, widespread, large-scale corruption that has engulfed all branches of power in today’s Ukraine. Ukraine has been turned into a hub of corruption at every level, from the top (meaning Zelensky - TASS), to the lowest official," she said. According to Timoshenko, the level of corruption entrenched in the country is undermining its defense capabilities.
Earlier, Timoshenko also said from the Rada podium that Ukraine is being governed from abroad. She stated that her party in parliament would oppose bills that violate the country’s sovereignty and would seek to put an end to external control.
On February 14, Ukrainian media reported that anti-corruption authorities conducted overnight searches at the Batkovshchina party office in Kiev in connection with a case involving the bribery of Rada members. Timoshenko later confirmed that the searches had taken place. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office said the former prime minister had been charged. The case was opened under an article on bribery of an official, which in this instance applies to deputies. She faces a prison sentence of five to ten years.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has released an audio recording of Timoshenko’s talks with Rada members related to the bribery case. According to the recording, she offered Verkhovna Rada deputies $10,000 per month in exchange for voting in a specific way. In the audio, Timoshenko says her goal is to "break up the majority" in parliament. NABU said the conversations took place on January 12 and involved discussions of votes on bills scheduled for the current plenary week, including government reshuffles.