The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced it had uncovered corruption cases involving two members of the Verkhovna Rada, describing it as “an important day for Ukraine”, writes kyivpost.com

NABUэs Telegram press service reports that, in the first case, a parliamentarian and member of the anti-corruption committee sought to bribe the head of the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure, Mustafa Nayem.

Parliamentarian Oleksiy Honcharenko identified the individual in question as Andrii Odarchenko in a post on his Telegram channel. Kyiv Post reached out to NABU for confirmation, but the bureau declined to comment.

The parliamentarian is accused of attempting to pay a bribe in Bitcoin, the equivalent of USD 50,000.

“This marks the first time in the history of anti-corruption bodies that an illegal benefit in cryptocurrency has been documented”, - the bureau emphasized.

In exchange for the funds, the lawmaker requested assistance in securing finances to repair an infrastructure project under his control from funds that will be allocated for rehabilitation in the aftermath of Russia"s armed aggression, according to NABU.

The arrest was made following the transfer of the initial tranche of the bribe, equivalent to USD 10,000, to the whistleblower’s crypto wallet. The investigations are ongoing.