Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Activists are calling to investigate the possible involvement of the deputy in the “salaries in envelopes” case.
The Anti‑Corruption Center filed a report of a crime with acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalsky against the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arahamia — activists suggest that the actions of the Servant of the People faction leader may contain signs of a crime under part 4 of article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely receiving an undue benefit.
The Anti‑Corruption Center’s statement notes that different deputies spoke about “salaries in envelopes” and Arahamia’s direct involvement in this scheme as far back as 2019.
Meanwhile, in 27 December 2025 the National Anti‑Corruption Bureau announced suspicions against five current members of parliament who, according to the investigation, were part of an organized group that provided deputies with money for “needed” votes. Among the suspects is the deputy head of the Servant of the People faction, Yurii Kisiel.
In particular, the investigation believes that Kisiel may have received funds from a trusted person of a lawmaker “from the leadership of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction.” This is also stated in the rulings of the High Anti‑Corruption Court, which indicate that the organized group was led by a deputy “from the leadership of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction.” According to the court, at the end of 2025 this deputy received 85 thousand dollars, which he was to distribute to other deputies as a bribe for voting.
“Whether Arahamia is truly involved in committing a crime can only be established within the framework of a pretrial investigation. Nevertheless, there is still no criminal proceeding against Arahamia himself,” the Anti‑Corruption Center emphasizes.
The Anti‑Corruption Center asks to enter the information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations and to assign the investigation to NABU detectives, since the case falls within the Bureau’s jurisdiction.
Anti‑Corruption Center Executive Director Darya Kalenyuk, commenting on the report, said that NABU previously handed suspicions to five MPs in the “salaries in envelopes” case, but David Arahamia does not directly appear in the case materials. According to Kalenyuk, this is because former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko never approved opening a case against him.
For her part, MEZHA Anti‑Corruption Center head Martyna Bohuslavets reminded that only the Prosecutor General can initiate proceedings against a member of parliament.
“In February, the Prosecutor General’s Office blocked our report of a crime by the head of the SoP faction on the grounds that the ‘circumstances are supposedly being investigated by NABU detectives in a criminal proceeding.’ But that is not true, because that proceeding did not concern Arahamia. So now there will be a test for acting Prosecutor General Kovalsky on his degree of dependence on Bankova,” she said.
According to article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code, within 24 hours after filing a report, the Prosecutor General or acting Prosecutor General is obliged to enter the data into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations and begin an investigation.
Last year ZN.UA reported on wiretaps in the office of Servant of the People MP Yurii Kisiel, thanks to which NABU was able to record his confidential contacts not only with former first presidential aide Serhii Shefir but also with numerous other high‑ranking officials sensitive for Bankova. The publication’s sources said detectives uncovered the “cash window” where Servant of the People deputies received shadow payments.
NABU investigated this case back when Artem Sytnyk was its director. At that time the now‑deceased deputy Anton Polyakov reported that party deputies were paid salaries in envelopes: about 5 thousand dollars for ordinary parliamentarians, and 10–15 thousand for committee chairs and deputy chairs. Some time later NABU took the scheme’s cashier out of play — Oleksandr Trukhin.
The faction repeatedly denied such rumors, but in one of the court rulings in the “salaries in envelopes” case, hromadske writes that the criminal organization was created “no later than 2021.”
Read details of the investigation’s course in the article “Money for votes. What is happening in NABU’s cases against Kisiel and Tymoshenko” by head of the internal policy desk Inna Vedernikova.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "ЦПК вимагає від в.о. генпрокурора відкрити справу проти Давида Арахамії". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.