Prominent Ukrainian politician detained in corruption probe

Mykola Martynenko was detained in Kyiv late on April 20 after the National Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) announced it was preparing to file charges against him, Radio Liberty reports. Special anti-corruption prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytskiy said on Friday that prosecutors would seek a custody decision from a Kyiv court later in the day. Martynenko is the second prominent political figure to have been detained in less than three months in Ukraine. According to media reports, an ally of former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and former chairman of parliament's fuel and energy committee, Martynenko is suspected of embezzling 17.3 million US dollars in a scheme involving Energoatom, a state company that provides uranium for nuclear power plants. The court was also expected to rule on custody for Serhiy Pereloma, a former Odessa chemical plant chief who faces the same charges. Ukrainian tax and customs service chief, Roman Nasirov, was detained in early March in another case seen as a test of the government's commitment to fighting corruption.