Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine’s energy and justice ministers resigned on Wednesday, the government said, over their alleged involvement in a sweeping corruption scandal in the country’s energy sector. Investigators alleged a key ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky orchestrated a $100-million kickback scheme to siphon off funds, triggering public anger at a time of widespread power outages caused by Russian attacks. Ukraine has long been plagued by corruption, and cracking down on graft is seen as a key requirement of its bid to join the European Union.
Zelensky earlier called for the resignation of his Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who investigators alleged received “personal benefits” in the scheme, as well as Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk. Neither is known to have been charged, and Grynchuk has not been mentioned as having profited from the scheme. “The minister of justice and the minister of energy cannot remain in their positions,” Zelensky said in a video posted on social media. Shortly afterwards, both submitted letters of resignation, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
She later announced the government “decided to urgently suspend” the vice president of the state nuclear operator Energoatom, ordering the company to also suspend several other top officials. The scandal has triggered outcry among Ukrainians, who are suffering frequent heating and electricity outages from the Russian bombings. “It’s disgusting,” Davyd, a 24-year-old content creator, told AFP, declining to give his surname. “They’re destroying us, our reputation, and our future. We won’t have a future if we have crooks like that,” he said, expressing concern over how the scandal would play among Kyiv’s crucial backers in the EU. People “raise as much money as possible to help the (army), and they are just hiding the money in their basements,” he added.
The allegations, unveiled earlier this week, center on kickbacks from contracts involving Energoatom, the state nuclear operator and the country’s most important electricity provider. Grynchuk replaced Galushchenko as energy minister in the summer. Ukraine’s parliament needs to formally approve both their resignations. The opposition party of former president Petro Poroshenko called for the government to resign. This week, anti-corruption officials have detained several people in the operation.
Olena Boikova, 57, a retiree, said she felt “indignation” and called those implicated in the scheme “internal enemies”. Ordering the ministers to step down, Zelensky said it was “absolutely unacceptable that there are still some (corruption) schemes in the energy sector” while Ukrainians are suffering daily outages. Russia has battered Ukraine’s energy grid with nightly drone and missile strikes in what Kyiv calls cynical attacks that seek to plunge millions of Ukrainians into the darkness and cold through the winter.
Investigators say the scheme was masterminded by Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Zelensky. Mindich co-owns the production company Kvartal 95, founded by Zelensky when he was a star comedian before entering politics. Mindich fled the country shortly before the allegations were announced on Monday, the state border service said. Zelensky has not commented on Mindich’s role in the scheme, but Prime Minister Svyrydenko said she was imposing personal sanctions on him and another businessman charged, Oleksandr Tsukerman. Kvartal 95, which produced Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” TV series, said the probe was not “related to the work of the studio”.
The scandal presents a major test for Zelensky, who faces accusations of centralizing power and silencing critics after the Russian invasion. Earlier this year, there was a massive backlash from the public and in Brussels over attempts to strip the independence of the two anti-corruption bodies that are investigating and prosecuting this case.
© 2024 AFP
