Ukrainian MPs to take lie detector test over corruption claims

Two lawmakers from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's party were set to take a lie detector test late Wednesday after the president called for a group of MPs to be tested over corruption allegations.

"Today we ... will go on a lie detector," Davyd Arakhamia, leader of the parliamentary faction of the president's Servant of the People party, told reporters.

His colleague Oleksandr Dubinsky also said he would take the test. They promised to livestream the proceedings.

Dubinsky sits on a committee that examines draft legislation.

Journalists have reported that MPs on the committee have taken bribes to block an anti-corruption law aimed at regulating the property market.

The bill has not yet gone before parliament.

Zelensky on Wednesday called for the ten or so MPs involved in examining the bill to be tested on a lie detector.

So far, the lawmakers are not facing any charges but investigators have launched a probe after journalists and bloggers reported a possible crime.

If these checks find "even the slightest possibility that the lawmakers took the money ... then the anti-corruption authorities should deal with these lawmakers," Zelensky wrote on Facebook.

The former comedian won presidential elections in spring on a programme promising to eradicate corruption.

According to Transparency International Ukraine is ranked 120th out of 180 on the NGO's corruption perception index, faring better than Russia (in 138th place) but still falling far behind its European Union neighbours.