MPs Bakulin, Dunaiev, Ioffe leave Opposition Bloc faction, – Rada Chairman Parubii
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Andrii Parubii announced that three members of the Ukrainian parliament, Yevhen Bakulin, Serhii Dunaiev and Yulii Ioffe left the Opposition Bloc faction.
As reported by Censor.NET citing UNIAN, Parubii said in the session hall the three lawmakers had submitted the relevant applications.
Two days before, on Nov. 20, two members of the Opposition Bloc parliamentary faction, MPs Yurii Boiko and Serhii Lyovochkin, were excluded from it.
On April 3, 2018, police put Bakulin on national wanted list. The lawmaker allegedly disappeared on March 19, several days after he was stripped of immunity.
On March 15, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stripped Bakulin of immunity, sanctioned his arrest and imposition of pretrial restriction on him.
The Prosecutor General's Office summoned Bakulin to testify as a suspect in the case on April 5.
The lawmaker is charged with embezzlement of funds belonging to Naftohaz Ukrainy through abuse of office, forgery, money laundering.
In late September 2018, the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau initiated bringing Dunaiev to responsibility on charges of illicit enrichment and tax evasion.
