Ukraine’s Anti-Graft Agencies Say They Uncovered Major Drone Procurement Bribery Case

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies said on Aug. 2 they had uncovered a large-scale bribery scheme involving the procurement of military drones and electronic warfare equipment.

This came just days after the agencies’ independence was restored following mass protests over government efforts to curb their powers.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said in a statement on Saturday that the alleged plot involved a sitting lawmaker, current and former regional officials, National Guard personnel, and a company executive.

Investigators alleged that those involved had refined a scheme over the past two years to systematically siphon off budget funds allocated by local authorities for defense needs, and to secure “unfair benefits in particularly large quantities.”

Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, identified the accused lawmaker as Oleksii Kuznetsov of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Party leader Davyd Arakhamiia later said on Telegram that Kuznetsov’s membership in the parliamentary faction would be suspended while the investigation is underway, and that a disciplinary panel was weighing his expulsion.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Ukrainian parliament’s press office with a request to forward a comment request to Kuznetsov.

In a separate statement, the party said it supported the work of NABU and SAPO, and stressed that responsibility for corrupt acts “must be borne by everyone, regardless of position, status or political affiliation.”

It said the recently passed law restoring the agencies’ independence “created additional guarantees for their work,” for them to act decisively and professionally in combating corruption.

Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on X on Saturday that he had been briefed on the investigation by the heads of NABU and SAPO, confirming that a lawmaker, local officials, and several National Guard servicemembers had been “exposed for bribery.”

“I am grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work,” he wrote. “There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork in uncovering it, and ultimately, a fair sentence. It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law passed on Thursday guarantees them all the tools necessary for a real fight against corruption.”

The law he referred to marked a dramatic about-face for his administration.

On July 22, Zelenskyy signed a measure that gave the prosecutor general sweeping authority over NABU and SAPO, including the power to reassign prosecutors and transfer cases away from the agencies.

Zelenskyy defended the move at the time, saying it would help purge Russian influence from Ukraine’s law enforcement structures and accelerate stalled investigations.

“The anti-corruption infrastructure will work. Only without Russian influence—it needs to be cleared of that,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media at the time, saying that Ukraine must ensure “the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law.”

In response to the measure, thousands of Ukrainians rallied in Kyiv and other cities in the largest protests since the Russian invasion in 2022, accusing the government of undermining hard-won anti-graft safeguards.

The European Union, which granted Ukraine candidate status in 2022, warned that the law violated one of the bloc’s core accession requirements: maintaining the independence of anti-corruption institutions.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called the July 22 law a “serious step back,” while the EU’s delegation to Ukraine said dismantling NABU’s safeguards would jeopardize trust in Kyiv’s reform efforts.

Germany’s foreign minister similarly warned that curbing the agencies’ powers risked slowing Ukraine’s path to EU membership.

The backlash was compounded by a separate security operation that week in which Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) conducted around 70 searches targeting NABU officials, arresting one on suspicion of spying for Russia, and another over alleged business ties to that country.

While most allegations involved minor administrative violations, NABU warned that some of the actions had gone too far and accused authorities of trying to intimidate the watchdogs.

Amid public protests and mounting pressure from Western allies, Zelenskyy reversed course. On July 24, he submitted a new bill restoring the agencies’ independence, calling the text “well-balanced” and excluding “any Russian ties,” and ensuring protection of Ukraine’s law enforcement system against Russian influence or interference.

The Ukrainian Parliament passed the measure in a unanimous vote on July 31, and Zelenskyy signed it the same day, calling it the “right decision.”

“It is very important that the state listens to public opinion,” he wrote on social media. “That it hears its citizens. Ukraine is a democracy–without a doubt.”

The law prohibits the prosecutor general from issuing orders to NABU or SAPO, or interfering in their investigations, and reinstates key procedural safeguards lost under the earlier legislation.