Prosecutor: Azarov accepted $17.5 million to make political appointment

The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office has accused Mykola Azarov, the country’s fugitive former prime minister, of accepting a multimillion-dollar bribe in return for appointing a prominent Ukrainian businessperson and politician as deputy prime minister.

In 2010, Azarov and his son, former parliamentarian Oleksiy Azarov, received over Hr 140 million — then around $17.5 million — to name Andriy Klyuev as first deputy prime minister of Ukraine, according to a statement on the website of the General Prosecutor’s office.

While the statement lists only the suspects’ officials positions, they are easily identifiable based upon the date of the alleged crime. All three men have since fled Ukraine.

A businessperson involved in coal and solar energy, Klyuev became deputy prime minister in 2010.

Two years later, he went on to serve at secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. He then briefly headed the Presidential Administration of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia on Feb. 22, 2014 amid the EuroMaidan Revolution.

Klyuev also fled Ukraine, where he faced accusations of involvement in mass killings during the revolution. For several years, he was included on the Interpol international wanted list. Both the United States and the European Union also imposed sanctions on him.

In 2017, Ukraine’s Slidstvo.Info reported that Klyuev and his brother Serhiy had managed to re-register their solar power companies in the Russia-occupied Crimean peninsula and continue their business activities.

The General Prosecutor’s Office is currently continuing its pre-trial investigation of Klyuev.