Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
After the investigation into the activities of the Khimprom drug syndicate, the Verkhovna Rada is beginning the plenary week without considering reforms of the security services or anti-corruption initiatives. Despite the loud scandal involving the SBU, deputies do not plan to summon the heads of security agencies for explanations. Parliamentary plans for the week of 9 November were reported by Member of Parliament Yaroslav Helezniak.
The MP reminded that the plenary week starts after another “very loud scandal of the authorities” — referring to the NABU investigation into the Khimprom drug cartel, in which high-ranking officials of the SBU, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the National Police are implicated. Helezniak noted that the authorities could have started the week by summoning security officials, considering a law to reform the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), the Office of the Prosecutor General (OGP), or the National Police, or at least taking the SBU law off the shelf.
“But maybe we can expect the Rada to start with a package of business support? Or at least by overturning the absolutely wrong decision on shelters,” Helezniak said.
The MP emphasized that he has no objections to the specific bill on nitrates — in his words, the law is “generally not bad.” He sees the problem in the lack of explanation why this issue should become a priority, and that the authorities have no public action plan amid the scandal. Helezniak contrasted the the Holos faction’s proposals with the authorities’ plans across several directions:
anti-corruption package of 10 bills
a package of business support, including the idea of a moratorium on inspections
a plan to reboot the DBR, the OGP, Financial Monitoring, and the Tax Service
a plan to cut expenditures to free up funds for military salaries
According to the MP, the authorities have no concrete answer for any of these items. He also noted that checking the declarations of SBU employees could reveal “a set of SBU cars worthy of Dynamo footballers.”
“Seriously, name at least one sphere where there is a vision of why things will be better tomorrow—in a month—in a year because of the authorities’ actions,” Helezniak said.
The MP added that he does not know of any area of public administration where the situation has not worsened over the past eight years due to the authorities. He called it “a great tragedy of public administration,” comparing the level of decision-making to the characters of the TV series “Criminal” and “Chancellor.”
Zelensky responded to the scandal around the SBU
The corruption scandal that Helezniak criticizes concerns the “Carthage” case — NABU’s investigation into a criminal organization that provided cover for fraudulent call centers with the assistance of high-ranking officials from the SBU, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the National Police. According to the investigation, the group controlled at least 52 call centers in several Ukrainian cities, and among the figures involved are SBU General Serhii Duka and a Russian citizen suspected of leading the drug cartel.
Earlier, Informator reported that the president urged the Rada to restore declaration filing for all SBU employees, calling the situation revealed by the investigation disgraceful for the special service. We also wrote that in the regions SBU employees began collecting money for General Duka’s bail — according to sources, amounts range from 50 to 150 thousand hryvnias depending on position.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Після розслідування про наркосиндикат Хімпром Железняк розкрив плани Ради на тиждень – ані виклику силовиків, ані реформ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
