The transfer of control over the committee began last summer, and in September it was already necessary to “solve issues,” the project’s investigators say. An accident near Kiev did not reduce the influence of the MP expelled from the Servant of the People party.
People’s Deputy Oleksandr Trukhin, who got into a scandal with an accident near Kiev, has been controlling the majority of members of the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine since September last year. About it reported investigative journalists of the Bihus.Info project.
Trukhin influences 20 people’s deputies out of 34 members of the committee. After the accident with his participation and subsequent expulsion from the Servant of the People party, his influence did not decrease, the authors say.
Preparations for gaining control of Trukhin over the budget committee began last summer, journalists stated.
“Member of the committee, “servant of the people” Arseniy Pushkarenko expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the official head of the committee, Yuri Aristov, and said that in September it was necessary to “resolve issues,” the material says.
Meeting at Hammer’s office
In early September 2021, members of the budget committee, who are not controlled by Aristov, held a non-public meeting at the back office of For the Future deputy Igor Molotok in the Parus business center.
Hammer confirmed the fact of the meeting to journalists and said that 24 people had come to it.
Hammer noted that 24 members of the budget committee came to the informal meeting
People’s deputies talked about a plan to change some of the staff in the commission and subcommittee, influencing the distribution of budget money, according to the investigation.
“It was discussed that this should be done in the presence of Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko. The minister must understand who really controls the committee,” the editors of the draft emphasized.
According to Bihus.Info, on September 21, during the presentation of the 2022 budget to the committee, Molotok asked the head of the committee to vote on some personnel issues, including replacing the head of the subcommittee, but Aristov refused to do so.
“People’s deputies gathered without him and changed the plan for the meeting, and then, in the presence of Aristov, they replaced the head of the subcommittee on the budget code with Arseniy Pushkarenko, a “servant” close to Trukhin,” the authors concluded.
