Bribes in the Verkhovna Rada: Bail for MPs was paid by the company that rescued Borisov in Odesa

The company that previously provided bail for former Odesa Oblast Military Commissar Yevhen Borysov has posted the largest portion of the multimillion-dollar bail for MPs. This was a key step in the bribery case in the Verkhovna Rada, where a total of more than 50 million hryvnias was paid by MPs, lawyers, and private companies.

This was reported by Radio Liberty.

Anti-corruption agencies have uncovered a bribery scheme in the Verkhovna Rada, for which two MPs from the Servant of the People party were granted multi-million dollar bail. Journalists of the Schemes project found out that a total of more than UAH 50 million in bail for Ihor Negulevskyi and Mykhailo Laba was paid by the MPs themselves, their lawyers, individuals, and private companies. Among them are firms that appear in the Bureau of Economic Security's audits and that have previously provided bail for other high-ranking officials.

At the end of December 2025, the NABU and the SAPO reported exposing an organized criminal group that included current MPs. According to the investigation, the members of this group systematically received undue benefits for supporting the necessary decisions in the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada.

The largest amount of bail - 25.8 million hryvnias out of 30 million allocated to Ihor Negulevskyi- was paid by Evagrain. This company has already been involved in the cases of the SBI and the BES and previously posted more than UAH 20 million bail for the former military commissar of Odesa region, Yevhen Borysov. The company is registered in Kyiv and specializes in wholesale trade in grain, tobacco, seeds and animal feed. The journalists were unable to get comments from the company's owner, Serhiy Chyzh.

Negulevsky himself contributed UAH 2.9 million, and lawyer Oleh Kuziaiev contributed UAH 1.5 million, explaining his actions by a "universal humanitarian call." Another suspect, MP Mykhailo Laba, paid UAH 499,000, and another UAH 16.1 million was paid by Tap City Service, a company whose beneficiary is former Deputy Prosecutor of Kyiv Region Ihor Protsenko.

The NABU and SAPO investigation revealed that the distribution of the illegal benefit was carried out every Thursday on the organizer's instructions through a special group in the WhatsApp messenger. The bribe amounts ranged from USD 2 to USD 20 thousand, depending on the period and task. In total, in November-December 2025, MPs who were members of the group received at least $145,000.

According to the investigation, the actions of the MPs are qualified under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an unlawful benefit by an official. Five MPs are involved in the investigation: Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Negulevskyi, Yuriy Kisel, Olga Savchenko and Mykhailo Laba. Several MPs and their lawyers refused to comment on the case.

Earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court granted bail to five other MPs in the same case: two for UAH 40 million and UAH 30 million, two for UAH 20 million, and the fifth for UAH 16.6 million. All the suspects were subject to procedural obligations, including wearing electronic monitoring devices, and the hearings were held in closed session.

Also recently, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported that the head of a parliamentary faction was found to be involved in corruption. The case is likely to involve Yulia Tymoshenko.

Анна Бальчінос