The case of MP Serhiy Kuzmin, which at one time became one of the most high-profile anti-corruption investigations in Ukraine, has been in court for almost three years with no visible progress. Despite the public detention, operational videos by the NABU, and the recorded transfer of over half a million hryvnias, the process has gradually turned into a protracted legal mess with the risk of ending due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
These are the events of early 2022, when NABU detectives detained the Kuzmins while receiving 558 thousand hryvnias for helping the company win a tender for the supply of an ultrasound machine for a hospital in his district. The operation was prepared for more than half a year, recording negotiations and meetings, and the moment of the transfer of funds was captured on video, published on the official NABU resource.
However, the very next day after the arrest, the case was reclassified from the article on receiving a bribe to abuse of influence. This change became the key argument in the defense of the People's Deputy. Lawyers insist that the initial qualification was used exclusively to legalize secret investigative actions, and the transfer of funds itself allegedly did not meet the legal signs of a bribe.
In particular, the court heard arguments that the person who brought the money did not disclose the amount or the purpose of the funds, and therefore the deputy could not have physically consciously accepted the illegal benefit. In addition, the defense claims provocation, since the money was from the NABU operational fund, and not from a real tender payment.
Separate questions were also raised by the delivery of the indictment in September 2022, when Kuzminykh refused to accept the documents and the detective threw them out the window of the deputy's car. The defense also used this situation as an example of "unprocedural behavior", trying to question the legality of the investigation's actions.
It is also significant that the representatives of the hospital for which the equipment was purchased are actually absent from the case, even as witnesses. At the same time, an analysis of the tender documentation shows that the winner was the company with the more expensive offer, while the cheaper bid was rejected due to the “abnormally low price”. Subsequently, the same hospital purchased other equipment from the same company at a much higher cost and without competition.
Journalists also draw attention to Serhiy Kuzmin's minimal parliamentary activity. In almost six years in the Verkhovna Rada, he rarely spoke from the podium, submitted only a few parliamentary requests, and practically did not raise issues of his own constituency. Instead, his activities were focused on the pharmaceutical sector, where, according to the investigation, persons associated with him received access to businesses, positions, and assets.
Meanwhile, the trial is dragging on. The change of lawyers, the failure of the defense to appear, and the need to constantly renew the deadlines for familiarizing themselves with the materials have led to the fact that even the court was forced to hire a free defense attorney. Against the background of the statistics of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, which released the accused due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, the prospect of a similar ending in the Kuzmin case looks quite real.
Investigators emphasize that instead of concluding a high-profile case, society is watching as the high-profile detention gradually loses its meaning, turning into another example of a systemic problem in the fight against corruption at the highest level.
