By Dan Peleschuk
KYIV, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators accused former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of bribery on Wednesday for allegedly running a vote-buying scheme, a source familiar with the matter said, the latest probe to rattle Kyiv's ruling class.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said it had served charges of bribery to an opposition party chief after exposing several other lawmakers last month as members of a "systemic" plot to receive payments in exchange for votes.
While the bureau did not identify Tymoshenko by name, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters she was the subject of the probe.
Tymoshenko, who rose to prominence two decades ago as a leader of the pro-democratic Orange Revolution, denied "all accusations" but didn't specifically address the probe.
In a Facebook post, she pledged to clear her name in court.
BRIBERY-FOR-VOTES PLAN NOT A 'ONE OFF,' NABU SAYS
"This concerned not one-off arrangements, but a regular cooperation mechanism that envisaged advance payments and was designed for a long-term period," NABU said on Wednesday.
"Lawmakers were to receive instructions on how to vote," or not to vote at all.
Eradicating corruption is critical to Ukraine's effort to join the European Union, though recent revelations of graft have drawn attention to the scale of this endeavour.
NABU and anti-corruption prosecutors shocked Ukrainians last November by unveiling an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector involving a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
PART OF BROADER ANTI-GRAFT CAMPAIGN
The probe into Tymoshenko, a sharp-elbowed populist who launched her career in the 1990s, broadens an anti-graft campaign that has ensnared senior ministers and opposition lawmakers.
Tymoshenko served as prime minister in 2005 and again from 2007-2010. Her political influence in recent years has significantly diminished, with her Fatherland party holding around two dozen seats in Ukraine's 450-seat legislature.
(Additional reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
