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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Since September, most members of the budget committee have been controlled by Servant of the People faction MP Oleksandr Trukhin, not the committee’s official chair Yuriy Aristov. Trukhin and pro-Trukhin members of the budget committee in September–October 2021 attempted to demonstrate their influence to the finance minister. This was preceded by a non-public meeting of MPs in the back office of MP Ihor Molotok.
This is reported in a new investigation by Bihus.Info.
Preparation to gain control of the budget committee, according to official transcripts, began as early as the summer of 2021. At one meeting, committee member and Servant of the People MP Arseniy Pushkarenko expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the committee’s official chair Yuriy Aristov and said that in September they needed to “resolve the matter.”
And at the beginning of September there was an informal, non-public meeting of budget committee members who are not controlled by its official chair Aristov. At the meeting they discussed a plan to change some personnel in the commission and subcommittee that influence the distribution of budget funds, including the social and economic commission (the so-called “deputy” funds for constituencies). It was also discussed that this should be done in the presence of Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko. Supposedly, the minister should understand who truly controls the committee.
The meeting took place in the back office of For the Future MP Ihor Molotok in the Parus business center. The MP himself confirmed the meeting in a comment.
“They invited all the people and 24 people showed up, if I’m not mistaken. And on the committee there are 34,” MP Ihor Molotok told Bihus.Info journalists.
Journalists repeatedly recorded interactions between Trukhin and Molotok both in the Rada and outside it.
According to the editorial office, the meeting included Trukhin-loyal members of the budget committee from Servant of the People, wavering Servant of the People MPs, and also some committee members from opposition factions and groups.
21 September 2021, when the finance minister came to the committee to present the budget for 2022 year, the MPs implemented the plan that had been discussed in Molotok’s back office.
After the greeting, Molotok asked the committee chair to vote on several personnel issues before the scheduled budget items: replace the head of a subcommittee, change the composition of commissions, and appoint heads of two working groups. This proposal, recorded in the transcript, matches the plans voiced at the non-public meeting.
As seen from the transcript, chair Aristov refused to put the matter to a vote and announced a break. But the MPs gathered without him and some colleagues and did change the agenda for the session. Then, with Aristov present, they changed the head of the subcommittee on the Budget Code. From Aristov’s person, Servant of the People MP Yuriy Kuzbyt, to Trukhin-affiliated Servant of the People MP Arseniy Pushkarenko.
They changed the co-chair of the social and economic commission, which handles the distribution of funds to deputy constituencies. Again, Aristov’s person, Servant of the People MP Mykhailo Laba, was replaced by Servant of the People MP Anatoliy Drabovskyi. They also appointed Oleksandr Trukhin and his close Servant colleague MP Olena Kopanchuk to lead the groups preparing the budget for 2022 year.
According to the transcripts, in pushing the matter forward, besides Pushkarenko, Trukhin and Molotok, other committee members participated, including Ivan Krulko from Batkivshchyna and For the Future group MP Anatoliy Urbanskyi.
The appointments made that day were never signed by committee chair Aristov. Because of this, the “Trukhin group” in the committee subsequently several times (including on 20 October) disrupted the committee’s quorum.
In addition to the MPs already mentioned, the editorial office says Trukhin’s influence also extends to Servant MPs Liubov Shpak, Denys Herman, and Orest Salamakha.
Overall, according to journalists’ calculations, the MP influences about 20 of his colleagues out of 34 committee members. Our interlocutors claim that after public statements by Servant leadership about expelling Trukhin from the party and faction, the situation regarding the MP’s influence has not changed.
More — in the video on our YouTube.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Трухін впливає на більшість депутатів бюджетного комітету Ради: подробиці отримання контролю у ньому". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Bihus.Info.
