Ukraine’s sitting deputy prime minister has been named a suspect in a corruption case, becoming the highest-ranking official in the country to face such charges while in office.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau, known as he NABU, that initiated the probe, announced on Monday that Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov is suspected of receiving a $345,000 kickback in a property development scheme. Corruption officials said they suspected Chernyshov of abusing power by approving the development of state-owned land in a scheme that would cause a loss for the state of around 24 million USD.
Chernyshov is among six suspects in the crime that was halted when anti-graft officials seized the land upon court order. The alleged crime took place while Chernyshov was serving as a minister of regional development, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau reported. Chernyshov, 47, who is a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied charges leveled against him, stating he was “absolutely not involved” in the corruption scheme. The deputy prime minister also said he would not step down from his position.
It should be noted that Kyiv has scaled up fight against corruption amid its European Union membership bid while the country is also fighting Russia in the more that three-year-old full-fledged war.
