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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
VAKS ordered to open a criminal case against Arakhamia over the scandal of “salaries in envelopes” for deputies
The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine satisfied a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC) and ordered Acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalsky to register a criminal proceeding regarding the head of the parliamentary faction Servant of the People, David Arakhamia.
According to the ACAC, the corresponding decision 4 November was made by VAKS investigative judge Markiyan Halabala.
It concerns Arakhamia’s possible involvement in a corruption scheme that provided for the systematic payment of money to members of parliament for “necessary” votes in the Verkhovna Rada.
Back in 19 October, anti-corruption activists appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor General with a report of a possible crime, but Kovalsky refused to register the proceeding, citing that the circumstances were allegedly already being investigated by NABU. Former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko previously took the same position.
At the same time, NABU officially confirmed that without the registration of the relevant information by the Prosecutor General, detectives cannot start an investigation directly against Arakhamia.
The scandal over deputies’ “envelopes” flared up back in December 2025, when NABU and SAP reported suspicions against five sitting parliamentarians, including Deputy Head of the Servant of the People faction Yuriy Kisely.
According to the materials of the court rulings, the organized group was headed by one of the faction’s leadership, who, according to the investigation’s version, received 85 thousand dollars for further distribution of the illegal payments. Searches were also carried out at Arakhamia’s assistant’s premises as part of the investigation.
The ACAC believes that the faction head himself could have been involved in organizing the corruption scheme, but this must be established by the investigation.
Now Kovalsky is obliged to comply with the court decision, which is not subject to appeal. The Anti-Corruption Action Center warned that further delaying the registration of the proceeding would mean not just inaction, but deliberate noncompliance with a court decision.
At the same time, the VAKS decision does not mean Arakhamia is recognized as guilty — the court ordered the registration of information about a possible crime and opened the way for an investigation.
Incredible, but true…
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