Ukrainian MP demanded $50,000 to settle foreigner’s extradition, law enforcement says
The Ukrainian security service, SBU, searched the house of a sitting member of parliament charged with fraud due to promising a foreign national to help avoid extradition, it was revealed on Friday.
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The MP allegedly promised a German citizen assistance in avoiding extradition and received USD 50,000 from him, the SBU and prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.
"The MP ‘guaranteed’ to use his own connections in court to overturn the decision of the state migration service of Ukraine to refuse to grant the foreigner refugee status," the SBU said.
It was not immediately clear if the MP was detained on fraud charges.
The opposition European Solidarity party of former president Petro Poroshenko said its member, Serhii Aleksieiev, was searched, calling it a "targeted provocation".
The search of Mr Aleksieiev’s house took place without a court order, only "explanations about the immediate need to conduct investigative actions", the party said in a statement.
"The [European Solidarity] regards those actions as a continuation of political provocations aimed at discrediting the political force and intimidating its representatives and obstructing the activities of the MP," it added.
Mr Aleksieiev is chair of the subcommittee of the parliamentary committee on law enforcement.
