Position: People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation, former Nevytsky village head.
Sphere of corrupt activity: legislative branch.
Region of corruption activity: Kyiv city.
Qualification: actions are qualified under Part 3 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: at large.
The plot of the case: in late December 2025, the SAPO and NABU exposed an organized criminal group that included members of the Ukrainian parliament. The officials are suspected of systematically receiving bribes for the "necessary" voting results in the session hall.
Back on December 27, anti-corruption authorities reported that an undercover operation had exposed an organized criminal group that included current MPs. At that time, NABU announced that the UDO was obstructing investigative actions in the Rada committees and restricting access from European Square. The UDO denied this, explaining the situation by checking people at the entrance.
According to the investigation, the group has been operating since 2021. The organizers coordinated the actions of the participants, indicating which bills or resolutions should be voted "for" and which ones should be rejected.
The amount of the improper benefit depended on the “performance indicator” (attendance in the hall and the number of projects supported). The amount of payments ranged from $2,000 to $20,000.
According to SAPO, in November-December 2025 alone, one of the group members received over $145,000 for further distribution among colleagues. The money was usually transferred on the first Thursday of each new month based on the results of work in the previous month.
On December 29, five people's deputies were charged with suspicion. Their actions were classified under Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of an offer or receipt of an illegal benefit by an official in an especially large amount).
Already on January 1, 2026, the Supreme Court of Ukraine chose preventive measures in the form of bail for five people's deputies suspected of systematically receiving bribes for voting in the Verkhovna Rada. Two of them were fined UAH 40 and 30 million, two more - UAH 20 million, and the fifth - UAH 16.6 million.
These are people's deputies from the "Servant of the People" party: Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Negulevsky, Olga Savchenko, Yuriy Kisel, and Mykhailo Laba.
The court imposed a preventive measure on Yuri Kisel and Igor Negulevsky in the form of bail of 40 and 30 million hryvnias.
The court set bail for Yevhen Pyvovarov and Mykhailo Laba in the amount of 20 million hryvnias.
The court set bail for Olga Savchenko in the amount of 16.6 million hryvnias.
Also, all suspected people's deputies must hand over their passports for safekeeping and are required to wear electronic bracelets.
Later, Yuriy Kisel deposited 8 million hryvnias into the deposit account of the High Anti-Corruption Court. This happened in connection with his suspicion in a bribery case, in which the court chose a preventive measure in the form of bail for him.
Also, multimillion-dollar bails were posted for two suspects in the case of receiving bribes for voting in parliament. These are MPs from the Servant of the People party, Olga Savchenko and Yevhen Pivovarov.
According to journalists' sources in law enforcement agencies, bail in the amount of UAH 16.6 million for Olga Savchenko was paid by one of her lawyers, Igor Fomin.
In a comment to "Schemes", he reported that part of the funds contributed was his personal, and another part "had to be borrowed" due to the large amounts of collateral for the participants in the case.
On the same day, 7 individuals paid bail for MP Yevhen Pivovarov. The amounts of the payments ranged from UAH 150,000 to UAH 5 million, and the total amount is almost UAH 20 million.
More than 50 million hryvnias in bail was paid for two MPs, Igor Negulevsky and Mykhailo Laba, who are suspected of receiving bribes for voting in the Verkhovna Rada. This money was partly paid by the MPs themselves, as well as lawyers, a number of individuals and private businesses, including a company that previously paid bail for the former head of the Odessa TCP, Yevhen Borisov.
According to the journalists' interlocutors, 25.8 million hryvnias out of the 30 million bail assigned to Igor Negulevsky was paid by the Evagrain company.
Negulevsky contributed 2.9 million hryvnias. Another 1.5 million was contributed by lawyer Oleg Kuzyayev, who claims that he is not the MP's defense attorney in the "paid votes" case.
Of the 20 million hryvnia bail set by the court for another MP, Mykhailo Laba, he himself paid 499 thousand hryvnia. Three other people paid bail for him in separate amounts, ranging from 150 thousand to 3 million hryvnia.
The largest amount — 16.1 million hryvnias for the People's Deputy — was contributed by the company Tap City Service, which is registered in Kyiv. It also specializes in “wholesale trade in grain, unprocessed tobacco, seeds, and animal feed.” Since 2024, the beneficiary of this company has been Igor Protsenko, who was previously the deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv region and is now also a lawyer. According to Protsenko, he represents the interests of the People's Deputy as a lawyer, but declined to comment on the substance of the issues.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: MPs from the Servant of the People party Yuriy Kisel, Yevhen Pivovarov, Igor Negulevskyi, Olga Savchenko.
Assets: the declaration for 2024 states that Mykhailo Laba owns a house with an area of 226 m² and a land plot with an area of 1,100 m² in the village of Nevytske, Uzhhorod district. His wife Viktoriya Laba owns two land plots in this village with an area of 557 m² and 2,000 m². She owns two agricultural plots in the village of Pylypets, Khust district with an area of 1,200 m² and 432 m².
Mykhailo Laba indicated three cars in the declaration: a 1993 Tavria, a 1979 Raf, which belong to him, and a 2017 Acura MDX, worth 420 thousand UAH, owned by the deputy's wife.
The People's Deputy received UAH 720,000 in salary for 2024. Mykhailo Laba also declared savings of UAH 8,179 in a bank account and UAH 480,000 in cash. The People's Deputy indicated financial obligations under a loan of UAH 278,000.
Persons who should have reacted: this corruption scheme should have been noticed earlier by employees, as well as heads of such law enforcement agencies as NABU, SAPO, and the Prosecutor General's Office.
Scandals: On July 22, 2025, he voted for draft law 12414, which limits the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. The law sparked a wave of anti-corruption protests.
In April 2023, he became one of the initiators of the scandalous Bill No. 9223, which proposed criminalizing criticism of the authorities on social networks (spreading "fake news").
Sources:
https://suspilne.media/1201350-sap-ta-nabu-ogolosili-pidozru-patom-nardepam-za-otrimanna-habariv/
https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/svoboda-live-nabu-skhema-deputaty-sluha-narodu/33635765.html
https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/eb47cafa-8015-4688-80a4-76017c6ac8c8