A former Ukrainian prime minister has been accused of plotting to bribe politicians with stacks of U.S. dollars in a scheme aimed at weakening President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government, a former political advisor has claimed.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (UNACB) first confirmed Jan. 13 it uncovered an alleged effort by the leader of an unnamed parliamentary faction to offer illegal benefits to lawmakers, according to Reuters.
Video released by UNACB showed stacks of U.S. dollars seized during overnight searches earlier this week, including footage of a woman in an office sitting behind a desk. Authorities did not publicly identify the suspect.
According to the Kyiv Post, published recordings allegedly show that three lawmakers were offered $10,000 per month in exchange for their votes, with the case linked by some to Yulia Tymoshenko, a veteran politician, former prime minister and current leader of the Batkivshchyna party.
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Former Zelenskyy press secretary Iuliia Mendel told Fox News Digital the cash allegedly belonged to Tymoshenko and was intended to pay lawmakers to vote against the president’s legislative proposals.
“In Ukraine, such transactions are usually discussed in U.S. dollars, as you can see from the law enforcement reports,” Mendel, a former political advisor said.
“The U.S. dollars shown in that video were allegedly hers that she was supposed to use to pay people to vote against Zelenskyy’s legislative proposals. She said it was her personal savings,” Mendel added.
Mendel said the sums shown in the footage appeared relatively modest, “about $40,000,” she said, noting other corruption cases in Ukraine have involved “much larger sums, sometimes millions of dollars.”
The raid on Tymoshenko’s party office reportedly lasted nearly all night.
“Officers arrived in the evening and remained in her office for almost the entire night,” Mendel said.
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Investigators allege several lawmakers — reportedly including members of Zelenskyy’s own faction — approached Tymoshenko, leading to discussions about regular monthly payments in exchange for coordinated voting.
Despite reportedly being served with a notice of suspicion, Tymoshenko also addressed parliament this week, calling the case “political persecution against me.”
“The so-called ‘urgent investigative actions’ that lasted all night ended at the Batkivshchyna party office. These ‘urgent investigative actions’ have nothing to do with law and order,” Tymoshenko also wrote on Facebook.
According to Mendel, the goal was not to attack Zelenskyy personally but to fracture the ruling mono-majority in parliament.
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“Ukraine’s system is a parliamentary-presidential republic, meaning the legislature plays a central role in governance. When the president controls a mono-majority, legislation can pass quickly,” Mendel said.
“Breaking that majority would significantly weaken Zelenskyy’s legislative authority.”
Tymoshenko, a central figure in the 2004 Orange Revolution and Ukraine’s first female prime minister, has faced legal trouble before.
In 2011, she was jailed over a gas deal with Russia in a case widely viewed as politically motivated before being released in 2014. She is expected to appear before Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court.
“Corruption is one of the key reasons we are losing this war. It severely damages Ukraine’s image on the international stage,” Mendel warned.
“By 2024, corruption had reached such a scale that Ukrainians chose an extremely dangerous and painful path — exposing it publicly in order to fight it,” Mendel added.
“Now, cases like this bring the issue back into the spotlight. Corruption will destroy Ukraine.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Zelenskyy’s office for comment.