MP, who received awards from Dumenko, is caught taking a bribe

Liudmyla Marchenko receives another award from Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: pomisna.info

On July 11, 2023, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced a suspicion of taking a bribe to the Verkhovna Rada deputy from the Servant of the People party Liudmyla Marchenko and her assistant. This was reported by the press services of SAPO and NABU. They do not name the people's deputy, but the media claim that it is about Marchenko, who is known for her active cooperation with the leadership of the OCU and the repeated presentations of orders from Epifaniy Dumenko.

According to the investigation, the MP received a bribe in the amount of 5,300 US dollars for organizing the illegal departure of a man of military age abroad. She agreed with the officials of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration to obtain permission to travel abroad and to enter the relevant information into the Shliakh information system. The man was registered as a volunteer driver who transports humanitarian cargo.

Marchenko and her assistant were accused of committing the crime after receiving the second part of the backhander – $2,800.

The video, published by NABU and SAPO, shows an assistant receiving money and then handing it over to Marchenko on the veranda of the people’s deputy’s mansion on July 5. Before the NABU detectives entered the local area, the deputy tried to get rid of the bribe – she began to hide the banknotes in the yard and then, having changed her mind, threw them over the fence.

The SAPO qualified the actions of Marchenko and her accomplice under Part 2 of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code (abuse of influence, receiving unlawful benefits for influencing decision-making by a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local government). The sanction of the article provides for a fine of 2 to 5.5 thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or imprisonment for a period of 2 to 5 years.

The published records of the negotiations and the correspondence of the parliamentarian and her assistant indicate that this case was not isolated, officials of various structures were involved in the scheme for organizing the departure of conscripts abroad, including officials of regional and district administrations and representatives of the State Border Service.

Earlier, Liudmyla Marchenko received several awards from the head of the OCU. In particular, in October 2020, "Archbishop" Nestor Pysyk presented her the Order of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. The award letter, which was signed by Epifaniy Dumenko, notes that the order was awarded for "selfless work" for the benefit of the "Local Church". In June 2021, Epifaniy awarded Marchenko the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, while in December of the same year, according to the press service of the OCU, he again “distinguished” the deputy with a “high church award.”

As the UOJ reported, on June 26, 2023, NABU detained, after receiving a bribe, the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mykhailo Holovko, who had promised to expel the UOC from the Pochaiv Lavra and transfer it to the “Ukrainian church”.

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