“This morning, we held an extraordinary government meeting. We decided to dismiss Herman Galushchenko from performing his duties as Minister of Justice,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko wrote on her X account amid corruption scandals in Ukraine’s energy sector.
Zelenskiy’s allies also implicated in corruption scandal
On Monday, parliament began efforts to remove Mr. Galushchenko from office. According to an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), as energy minister, Mr. Galushchenko participated in a network that earned at least $100 million in fees related to contracts awarded to private companies by a subsidiary of the public nuclear power company Energoatom.
Prosecutors from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) told the court yesterday that the businessman Tehran, a former partner of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the alleged mastermind of the plot, and 50% owner of a production company founded by him, Imour Mindych has direct influence over Galushchenko and Rustem Umerov, then defense minister and current head of the National Security Council, who is also the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team. Recent contacts with Russia.
The end of the fight over the independence of anti-corruption agencies
The findings, released at a time when Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was being bombed daily by Russia, found that Mr. Galushchenko, who served as energy minister for four years, received “personal benefits” from Mr. Mindić in exchange for control over funds flowing into the energy sector.
Galushchenko’s duties were taken over by Liudmila Sugak, Deputy Minister of European Integration.
The scandal comes months after an internal battle for control of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency that brought Ukrainians to the streets in the summer over a law that limited the agency’s independence and forced Mr. Zelenskiy to withdraw.
rml (efe, afp)
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