KIEV, Feb. 8 – One lawmaker on Thursday quit a pro-government group in Parliament that had been accused of buying members for about $500,000 in cash in order to increase support for President Viktor Yanukovych.

Taras Chornovil hquit the Reforms for the Future group a day after audio recordings were released suggesting the group leader, Ihor Rybakov, was paying money to convert opposition lawmakers into his “slaves.”