Parliamentary cleansing: Dubinsky – the start, Kuzminykh – the logical continuation

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy has recalled MP Oleksandr Dubinsky from the position of deputy head and member of the committee as a whole. The Head of the Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, noted that the reason for this decision is that Oleksandr Dubinsky has been served with a notice of suspicion, UNN reports.

The next candidate for exclusion from the relevant committee and recall from the position of subcommittee head, according to the logic of the actions of people's deputies, should be, for example, MP Serhiy Kuzminykh, who was also served with a notice of suspicion regarding receiving a half-million bribe back in 2022.

Despite this, Kuzminykh has been a member of the Committee on National Health and the head of the subcommittee for almost three years. The most absurd thing about this is that, according to the investigation, the bribe Kuzminykh received concerned medical procurement. Thus, the funds were a reward for Kuzminykh's assistance in signing contracts between private companies and one of the hospitals in the Zhytomyr region. It turns out that a person who was already caught "red-handed" still continues to participate in state-building, precisely in the sphere "of interest" to him.

It should be noted that Kuzminykh is not just a "suspect". He is an MP who evades justice, ignores court hearings, and delays the consideration of the case for almost three years.

Ukrainian society has an active demand for cleansing the parliament of those who abuse their mandate, are corrupt, and speculate with the law. The Verkhovna Rada should be composed of people who adhere to the law and principles of integrity, and not hide behind immunity, avoiding responsibility. Therefore, the story with Dubinsky may be just the first signal. It would be logical for others to follow, including Kuzminykh, who has long lost the moral right to remain a people's deputy.