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Two senior Ukrainian officials submitted their resignations Wednesday amid the fallout over an alleged $100 million kickback corruption scheme linked to the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom.
Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on X that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk had submitted their resignations, and the government had suspended several senior officials at Energoatom amid the corruption probe.
Svyrydenko added that the cabinet had also submitted proposals to apply personal sanctions against Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and businessman Alexander Tsukerman.
Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), said they had led a 15-month investigation code-named “Midas” that had uncovered a “large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic state-owned enterprises.”
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It involved a “high level criminal [organization]” that systematically received “illicit benefits from Energoatom’s contractors in the amount of 10% to 15% of the contract value,” NABU said.
“In particular, Energoatom’s contractors were forced to pay kickbacks to avoid having payments for their services/products blocked or losing their supplier status,” the agencies announced.
The anti-corruption agencies stated that the alleged criminal organization had run a Kyiv-based “laundry” office whose premises belonged to the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andrii Derkach.
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The office kept “black accounting” records and laundered approximately $100 million through non-resident companies, according to NABU and SAPO.
Five people were detained, and another seven were placed under suspicion, including a former advisor to the Minister of Energy.
The scandal comes amid Russia’s escalating attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that have led to power outages across the country.
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“Internally this scandal will be used to undermine unity and stability within the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to stop aid to Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party, according to The Associated Press.
“It looks really bad in the eyes of our European and American partners,” Merezhko said. “While Russians destroy our power grid, and people have to endure blackouts, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”
Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he supports the investigations carried out by Ukraine’s law enforcement and anti-corruption officials.
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“Right now, it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine – enduring power outages, Russian strikes, and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that, amid all this, there are also some schemes in the energy sector,” he wrote. “I will sign a decree to impose sanctions on two individuals implicated in the NABU case concerning Energoatom. Right now we all must protect Ukraine. Undermining the state means you will be held accountable. Breaking the law means you will be held accountable.”
