Verkhovna Rada deputy Serhiy Leshchenko (Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction) has refused to sign a protocol on committing an administrative offense, National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) authorized official Andriy Kozlovsky has said.

"As an authorized [NACP] official, presented the protocol … which says the named individual [Serhiy Leshchenko] failed to sign it or acquaint himself with its contents," Kozlovsky told journalists at Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.

Kozlovsky said the protocol would be sent to Leshchenko by mail.

The authorized NACP official told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that he had read out the contents of the protocol to Leshchenko.

"The present received by Leshchenko in the form of a privileged price [present] – a discount on the price of his apartment – 1,307 times exceeds the minimum wage. Taking this into consideration, Leshchenko violates demands … of the law on preventing corruption and did not refuse the offer of receiving the discount on the purchase of the flat," the protocol reads.

The protocol also says the price of the flat purchased by Leshchenko as a result of the discount was lowered by UAH 1,801,648.

"Leshchenko's deliberate actions … violate the law on receiving valuable presents," the NACP authorized official said.

As earlier reported, as a result of a NACP check it was established that Leshchenko, who purchased a 192 square m apartment for UAH 7,550,000 in a new building located in a historical quarter of Kyiv, received a 'gift' in the form of a discount on the price of the flat from the construction company that built the building. Leshchenko was a parliament deputy when he bought the flat and subject to the Law on Preventing Corruption. Hence, he received a present worth more than 1,307 times the minimum wage (total value of the discount was UAH 1,801,648)

NACP reported that from November 30 Leshchenko refused to acquaint himself with the protocol of the administrative violation. On December 1, he was invited through the official NACP website to acquaint himself with the protocol and results of the agency's investigation.

On Tuesday, December 6, Leshchenko failed to appear at NACP offices to familiarize himself with the protocol. According to Leshchenko's lawyers he was in an office of the National Police of Ukraine providing testimony about the murder of Belarusian journalist Pavlo Sheremet in Kyiv.