Ukraine’s energy and justice ministers have resigned following a major investigation into corruption in the country’s energy sector.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called for the dismissal of Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.
On Monday, anti-corruption agencies accused several people of orchestrating an energy sector embezzlement scheme worth around $100m (£76m), including national nuclear operator Enerhoatom.
Some of those involved in the scandal are – or have been – close collaborators of Zelensky.
The allegation is that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and other key ministers and officials received payments from contractors building fortifications against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
Among those allegedly involved are former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and Timur Mindich, a businessman and co-owner of Zelensky’s former television studio, Kvartal95. He has since reportedly fled the country.
Halushchenko said she would defend herself against the accusations, while Grynchuk stated on social media: “In the scope of my professional activities there were no violations of the law.”
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) said the investigation, which took 15 months to conduct and involved 1,000 hours of audio recordings, uncovered the involvement of several members of the Ukrainian government.
According to Nabu, the people involved systematically collected bribes from Enerhoatom contractors worth between 10% and 15% of the contract value.
Anti-corruption agencies also claimed that huge sums of money had been laundered under the scheme and published photographs of bags full of cash. The funds were then transferred out of Ukraine, including to Russia, Nabu said.
Prosecutors alleged that profits from the scheme were laundered through an office in kyiv linked to the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andriy Derkach.
Nabu has been posting new snippets of his research and wiretaps every day, and on Tuesday he promised more to come.
The scandal unfolds against the backdrop of escalating Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, including substations that supply electricity to nuclear power plants.
It will also shed light on corruption in Ukraine, which remains endemic despite the work of Nabu and Sap in the 10 years since its creation.
In July, nationwide protests broke out over changes limiting the independence of Nabu and Sap. Ukrainians feared that the nation could lose the coveted EU candidate status, which was granted to them on the condition that they mount a credible fight against corruption.
kyiv’s European partners also expressed great alarm at the decision, and ambassadors from the G7 group of nations expressed a desire to discuss the issue with Ukrainian leaders.
The backlash was the most severe the Ukrainian government has suffered since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and was only quelled by Zelensky’s decision to restore freedom to the two anti-corruption bodies.
For some, however, that crisis called into question Zelensky’s dedication to anti-corruption reforms. The latest scandal threatens to raise more uncomfortable questions for the Ukrainian president.
