Two prosecutors at the Prosecutor General's Office are under investigation for allegedly taking a $170,000 bribe to close a criminal case, the office's head, Andrii Kostin, said on July 16.
One of the prosecutors had been charged and detained at the workplace following an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
Charges against "other participants" in the suspected crime are being prepared, NABU said.
"I have always stressed: zero tolerance for corruption is our guiding principle," Kostin said on Telegram, adding that "similar cases only confirm the need for the continuous development of corruption prevention system in law enforcement bodies."
No further details on the case have been published at the moment.
According to Kostin, six prosecutors have been charged over corruption and other abuses only this year.
Ukraine's top prosecutor's office came under the spotlight recently after the assets of Kostin's deputy, Dmytro Verbytskyi, became the subject of an internal investigation.
The office initiated the probe into Verbytskyi following several RFE/RL articles suggesting that Verbytskyi and his girlfriend own a luxury car and expensive homes in affluent areas of Kyiv, which appeared to be beyond their expected salaries as public officials.
On June 19, Kostin failed to show up in the Verkhovna Rada, where he had been summoned by lawmakers over the RFE/RL articles on his deputy.
Rachel Amran
(Updated: )
