It is unprecedented number of public scandal [involving] one parliamentary group, argues Oleksiy Koshel of Ukraine’s Committee of Voters.
Among those who come at the top of the ‘scandal-prone’ list are Mykola Tyshchenko, Oleksandr Dubinsky, Yevheniy Shevchenko, Maksym Buzhansky, and David Arakhamia.
‘Despite Zelensky’s promise to part ways with scandalous MPs, most of those are still members of [Servant of the People] parliamentary group. Some politicians were hit by several scandals over the course of two years in the parliament, adds Oleksiy Koshel, arguing that the party list of candidates for parliamentary elections was formed out of personal preferences and disregarded professional competencies.
‘Ultimately, seats in the parliament went to those who had never been in politics and have no idea of basic principles of public communication’.
The list of disgraced politicians and their scandals compiled by Ukraine’s Committee of Voters includes:
- David Arakhamia who drew public ire over several scandalous statements – he claimed Ukraine should reclaim its nuclear weapons, warned Zelensky-Biden talks will be ‘heated’, and said Kyiv must renew water supplies to Crimea.
- Oleskandr Kornieynko. He came under fire after sexist remarks about his fellow MP calling her ‘as sturdy as ship pine’
- Mykola Tyshchenko took heat for a number of public scandals. They included defience of Covid restrictions by Kyiv restaurant he owns , violations of Covid social distancing at his wife’s birthday party, and questionable involvement in vote count scandal in Ivano Frankivsk.
- Yevheniy Shevchenko notoriously broke the ranks by visiting Belarus notorious leader Oleksandr Lukashenko
- Yelizaveta Bogutska branded Covid pandemic as ‘an affair’ and made offensive remarks about a Ukrainian sociologist Yevhen Golovahka
- Yevheniy Bragar stirred up a controversy on a TV show cleverly offering one of the studio guests to trade her dog to ‘pay utility bills’. He also face allegations of driving under influence.
- Oleksandr Yurchenko was investigated for extorting a bribe for lobbying specific amendments to the draft law
- Maksym Buzansky who once called a reporter ‘a dumb sheep’ often courts controversy over his scandalous statements on Ukraine-Russia relations, historic events and language issues.
- Vasyl Virastuk took an obvious misstep publicly complaining about little promotion of presidential ‘Big construction’ program in Ivano-Frankivsk region
- Yuliya Gryshyna had an embarrassing moment mispronouncing the Verkhovna Rada.
- Oksana Dmytrieva was spotted in the parliament flaunting a very expensive designer outfit.
- Geo Leros traded punches iwth Maksym Buzansky in full public view
- Oleskandr Dubinsky was sanctioned by the US governmental agency over ‘interference in the US presidential elections’, accused fellow MPs of ‘grey” salaries, and claimed his collection of luxury cars is ‘his mom’s as she loves speed’.
- Roman Ivanisov failed to reveal his past criminal record – as a youth, he faced rape charges
- Yuriy Kamelchuk known for his skeptical remarks on Covid pandemic, got her 15 minutes of fame over for parking violation at the parliament.
- Danylo Getmansev came under fire over his open lobbyism of tobacco retailers
- Valerii Kohuch was caught on camera making hotel reservation in Dominican Republic amid the parliamentary session
- Olga Vasylevsk-Smaglyuk slammed coronavirus as a ‘marketing policy’
- Bohdan Torokhotiy allegedly approached Kyiv mayor asking to provide apartments for eight assistants from his MP office.
- Margaryta Shol, Oleksanrd Gaydu, Pavlo Halimon reportedly visited a restaurant defying Covid restrictions
- Oleh Arsenyuk got into a brawl in Cherkasy restaurant
- Yuriy Koryachenkov was accused of illegal lobbying in Kryvyi Righ
- Mykola Galushko accused the party leaders of ‘selling seats’ on the party list ahead of local elections
- Maryan Bezugla filed a lower value of her Kyiv property in assets declaration
- Anna Kolisnyk was spotted texting ‘time to get out of this coutry’ in the parliament as the Ukrainian senior military official was making a report for MPs
- Andriy Stykharskii picked a fight in a restaurant
- Olena Kryvoruchkina faced an embarrassing moment when she was spotted sexting during the parliamentary session
- Iryna Vereshchuk claimed in 2019 nobody was waiting fUkraine to join NATO and called to reconsider the policies toward the alliance.
- Anna Skokhod accused the party leaders of pressure over her voting decisions
- Anton Polyakov claimed he was kicked out from the party group in the parliament over his criticisms on his Telegram channel.
- Oleksandr Kunitskiy was accused of lobbying his business interests in the Verkhovna Rada
- Serhiy Lytvynenko and Olena Kopanchuk faced backlash over multi-voting scandal that saw them unlawfully voting for other MPs.
- Andriy Odarchenko was all bruised after a scuffle on his vacation
- Anatoliy Ostapenko was spotted texting his friends during the parliamentary session
- Mykola Poturayev caused disturbance in the parliament when he said Oppositional Plaftform for Life members must be shot to death
- Mykhaylo Radutsky got in the spotlight after media reports found him texting about his lobbying schemes
- Oleh Seminsky punched a man in Chernihiv and damaged his car
- Volodymyr Tymofiychuk made a gaffe when he confused the name of the region that brought him seat in the parliament and later awkwardly remarked he hadn’t promised anything in his election campaign program
- Oleksandr Kachura attacked the mayor of Sumy who threw a bottle of water at the MP
- Oleh Voronko, Ostap Shypaylo, Oleskandr Trukhin, Stepan Chernyavsky, Pavlo Pavlish are millionaires yet they applied for state-funded housing in Kyiv.
- Andriy Gerus got into a brawl with Oleh Lyashko in the lounge room of Kyiv airport
- Ruslan Stefanchuk was found to use his mother-in-law apartment in Kyiv while claiming state-funded housing
- Galyna Tretyakova stirred up a controversy over her quote about ‘substandard children’
- Bohdan Yaremenko was spotted texting a prostitute from the Verkhovna Rada
- Vyachesla Medynnyk is now investigated by anticorruption agency over his ‘promise to fix the problems with prosector’s office’ in his reveled correspondence