The National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced a search for Serhiy Kuzminykh, a lawmaker from the ruling Servant of the People faction who the bureau accused of taking a $20,000 bribe.
The bureau said on Jan. 28 that they caught the lawmaker “red-handed” when receiving a bribe.
According to the NABU, “the official accepted a bribe for helping private companies get contracts with a state hospital in Zhytomyr Oblast.” In parliament, Kuzminykh heads a subcommittee on pharmacy and pharmaceutical activity.
Being a lawmaker, Kuzminykh couldn't have been arrested before a special authorization of Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, which she signed on Jan. 31.
Kuzminykh came to prominence as the brother of Oleg Kuzminykh, one of the high-profile Ukrainian soldiers that were defending the Donetsk Airport before it fell to Russian-backed militants in 2015.
Kuzminykh is a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky's party. Zelensky hasn't yet commented on the case.
