Servant of the People party expels lawmaker for alleged bribery

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party has experienced a political roller coaster over the past fortnight.

From lawmakers taking polygraphs due to rumors of accepting bribes, to a lawmaker texting a sex worker during a parliamentary session and the change in the party leadership. Now, the head of the president’s party has initiated the first expulsion of a lawmaker, Anna Skorokhod.

On Nov. 14, Skorokhod had accused authorities who arrested her husband, Aleksey Alyakin, of doing so due to her vote going against the party. She voted against the bill lifting the ban on farmland sale on Nov. 13.

In his turn, David Arakhamia, the head of the party faction in parliament, accused Skorokhod of offering bribes to other lawmakers.

Her husband, originally a citizen of Russia, declared bankruptcy, moved to Ukraine and obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2013. His debt had reached $8 million. He is the ex-owner of the bank Pushkino and founder of the company Progress Construction Plant LLC. He is also associated with the Russian-Ukrainian businessman Pavel Fuks.

In September 2015, Alyakin was put on the federal wanted list in Russia for suspicion of fraud, and in November 2015, his name was added to the Interpol database of wanted criminals.

In June 2018, Alyakin was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) at the request of the Russian Federation. His Ukrainian citizenship was allegedly annulled a month later.

His defense appealed his extradition due to health reasons, and he was put under house arrest until November 2018 with the aim of extradition. However, on Jan. 3, 2019, the house arrest was cancelled due to Alyakin’s claim that he was, in fact, a citizen of Ukraine.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Alyakin tried to avoid extradition by registering as a Ukrainian citizen. His citizenship was canceled by migration services after they discovered he had provided fake documents and information.

On Nov. 7, the courts denied Alyakin’s claims of citizenship, and on Nov. 11, the investigation resumed, which led to Alyakin’s arrest.

Skorokhod stated in parliament that the detainment of her husband was illegal and was due to “my political preferences, my political views and for not voting as the party indicated to me.”

In the same statement, she appealed to president Zelensky and asked that “the president, the State Security Service and other law enforcement agencies with a request to stop the lawlessness that you are doing and stop the pressure on me and my family.”

On Nov. 14, the Prosecutor General’s office confirmed that Alyakin had been arrested due to his presence on an international wanted list for suspicions of large-scale fraud. The same day, Arakhamia announced he would initiate the expulsion of Skorokhod from the Servant of the People party at the next session.

Arakhamia claims that Skorokhod had been lobbying for the interests of “specific oligarchic groups” and that “she is an agent for someone.” He also said that two lawmakers complained to him that her husband was pressuring and intimidating them.

Skorokhod also made headlines two weeks ago on Oct. 31, when she burst into tears in the session hall because she refused to consider amendments to the law on Gas Transit Systems (GTS).