Speaker of Ukrainian parliament Volodymyr Lytvyn has asked Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka to check reports regarding the bribery of MPs in the Ukrainian parliament. A similar request has been addressed to Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Rules of Procedure Volodymyr Makeyenko.

The reason for such a request was a statement made by MP Roman Zabzalyuk on February 8, 2012 that he received a USD 450,000 bribe from the leadership of the Reforms for the Future group in parliament for his transfer to the group from the opposition BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction.

MP Roman Zabzalyik left BYuT faction on December 23 on unknown reasons and joined the Reforms for the Future group on January 10, 2012. Former BYuT faction head Ivan Kyrylenko told journalists that such announcement was a surprise for him. "Zabzalyuk is a serious man. I still cannot believe he has left. May be it is some kind of a mistake," he said.

The parliamentary group said that Zabzalyuk's accusations of bribery were ungrounded, his records were a fake, and that the money was allocated to him for medical treatment.

Zabzalyuk said that he had quit the Batkivshchyna Party as part of an experiment to prove that the parliamentary majority is buying up opposition members ahead of parliamentary elections.

Zabzalyuk made public the records of his talks with the head of the Reforms for the Future group, Ihor Rybakov, confirming his version, and promised to transfer the USD 450,000 to the fund of the Batkivshchyna Party.

"Fraza" newspaper received a statement by head of the Reforms for Future parliamentary group Ihor Rybakov regarding the money transferred to Zabzalyuk.

"Some months ago Zabzalyuk asked me to help him with money, needed for treatment of a serious disease. Zabzalyuk told me his faction refused to finance him, and having discussed the issue our group decided to allocate money. We are happy that our Christian deed helped Roman Zabzalyuk and that our colleague is doing fine now," the statement says.

After Zabzalyuk's withdrawal from the BYuT faction, its former leader Kyrylenko also confirmed information on Zabzalyuks sickness. "When people are sick they don't publicize this information. But Zabzalyuk does have problems with his health. You know he did not have easy life - army, Afghanistan," he added.

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