SAPO seeks detention of MP Yurchenko

 Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) is seeking pretrial detention for a member of parliament charged with accepting an improper benefit.

SAPO did not name the lawmaker in its statement. However, based on the case details, it concerns MP Oleksandr Yurchenko.

"On April 21, 2026, an SAPO prosecutor filed a motion with the court to change the preventive measure for a member of parliament of Ukraine. He, together with another person, is charged with receiving an improper benefit and incitement to provide such a benefit. The prosecutor insists on applying a preventive measure in the form of detention and recovering UAH 3 million bail in favor of the state," SAPO said on Telegram.

The agency said the motion was prompted by the MP's repeated failure to appear in court. In particular, he missed the latest hearing because of a trip abroad that he had arranged on his own, despite having been informed in advance about the scheduled court session. It was precisely because of the defendants' repeated absences that hearings were postponed for two months in a row.

The court is due to consider the motion on April 28, 2026.

SAPO said the indictment in the case was sent to court back in August 2021 and has remained under consideration ever since.

As reported in December 2021, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed obligations on MP Yurchenko and his alleged accomplice, who are charged with receiving an improper benefit, including not communicating with witnesses and experts, but lifted the requirement to surrender documents for traveling abroad.

Earlier reports said that in the summer of 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) received information about an organized group whose members were receiving improper benefits for using the lawful powers of members of parliament, and launched a special operation involving an undercover detective.

"The lawmaker asked for an improper benefit of $13,000 to be transferred to him through an intermediary for submitting proposals to the draft law of Ukraine 'On Waste Management,' and later another $200,000 to bribe MPs who were members of the relevant Verkhovna Rada committee," the statement reads.

Later, unknown persons informed the participants in the crime about the special operation, and they tried to conceal their activities. However, an expert examination confirmed the authenticity of the audio and video recordings obtained during the investigation and the presence in the defendants' statements of requests for money for themselves and members of the Verkhovna Rada committee.

During the pretrial investigation, real estate and vehicles belonging to the defendants were seized to secure possible confiscation of property as a form of punishment. NABU and SAPO notified the intermediary in the transfer of the improper benefit of suspicion on September 10, and the lawmaker on September 17, 2020. On March 3, 2021, the materials of the criminal proceeding were opened to the defense for review.

In August 2021, an indictment was sent to court against the MP and his intermediary, who are accused of receiving an improper benefit and inciting the provision of such a benefit in exchange for amendments to legislation by members of parliament.

The case concerns independent MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, formerly expelled from the Servant of the People faction, and his "unofficial assistant" Ivan Fishchenko.