Scenes from lavish Kiev apartments, one of which has a golden toilet, images of duffel bags filled with cash and audio recordings of officials allegedly discussing money-laundering strategies shocked Ukrainians last week. The administration of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy found itself in the midst of the biggest corruption scandal since his rise to power, destabilizing the country’s leadership at a crucial moment in the war, writes the Financial Times.
Fury in Ukraine
High-ranking Ukrainian officials are accused of accepting bribes in energy plant defense projectsand at a time when Ukrainians live with daily electricity restrictions. Investigators have released a trove of evidence, alleging that officials took bribes for construction projects aimed at protecting power plants from Russian missile attacks.
These revelations caused a wave of public anger, and headlines like the one on the Ukrainska Pravda portal – “how the president’s friends looted the country in wartime” – summed up the public’s indignation. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced earlier this week that, in cooperation with the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), it conducted more than 70 searches and arrested five people.
According to investigators, officials and entrepreneurs forced suppliers of the state nuclear company Energoatom to pay bribes in the amount of 10 to 15 percent of the value of each contract. The outcome of this 15-month investigation, during which more than 1000 hours of wiretapped conversationsinfuriated Ukraine.
Zelenski changes the board under pressure
The scandal comes after Zelenski and his associates tried to neutralize independent anti-corruption agencies this summer as the investigation closed in on the president’s inner circle. However, after mass protests and pressure from Western partners, they had to give up that idea.
Faced with new evidence, Zelensky was forced to change his approach to protect his own position. On November 13, he requested the resignations of Minister of Justice German Galushchenko and Minister of Energy Svjetlana Hrinčuk, who then removed from the National Security Council.
His response was judged by many to be slow and weak. He made his first comment on the accusations only on Monday evening, November 11, and the request for resignations came only on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Yulia Svjridenko had already suspended Galushchenko.
“Temporary suspension, not even dismissal… would that be the reaction of a president who really knew nothing?”, commented prominent anti-corruption activist Vitaly Shabunin. After that, Zelenski dismissed the ministers and introduced sanctions against the entrepreneurs involved.
Key players and friends of the president
At the center of the affair is Timur Mindič, Zelenski’s friend and former business partner, whom investigators describe as the “co-organizer” of the scheme. They state that about 100 million dollars of illegal funds passed through his office.
“He controlled the operation of the so-called ‘laundry room’, where criminally acquired funds were laundered,” NABU announced. Mindič, the owner of the company Kvartal 95, which was co-founded by Zelensky, received a tip and fled Ukraine just a few hours before the raid.
Another close friend and ally of Zelenskiy, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, is accused of receiving 1.2 million dollars and 100,000 euros in cash. He, like Galushchenko, denies guilt.
Minister of Energy Hrinčuk is not directly involved in the case. “Now Zelensky is staying away from people involved in the case, and is especially trying to avoid association with Mindich,” said Kyiv political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko.
Test for Ukrainian institutions
Although the scandal is rocking the government, some see it as evidence of progress. Allies of the president and some activists point out that the fact that NABU can investigate high-ranking officials, even in war, shows the resilience of the institutions established after Maidan in 2014.
Advisor to the head of the presidential office, Mihajlo Podoljak, wrote that the situation “convincingly demonstrates the transformation of Ukraine”, while EU ambassador Katarína Mathernová said that the investigation “is a strong signal that Ukrainian independent institutions are functioning”.
However, campaigners warn of the immense pressure facing independent agencies. Daria Kalenyuk, the executive director of the Center for Anti-Corruption Action, called the investigation a success story, but with an important caveat: “It is a story that can be positive, but only if Zelensky takes the side of Nabu and Sapa, and the people of Ukraine.”
As an example of pressure, the case of NABU detective Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, who investigated corruption in Energoatom, and who was arrested in July by the SBU security service under, as activists claim, politically motivated charges is cited.
A dangerous moment for Ukraine
The political crisis during the war is dangerous for Ukraine. The European Solidarity opposition party, led by former president Petro Poroshenko, repeated the demand for the formation of a technocratic “unity government”, but refrained from calling for Zelenski’s resignation. “We are still at war,” said Poroshenko’s ally Rostislav Pavlenko.
Political commentator Serhiy Fursa warned of the risks: “We cannot allow the Ukrainian president, the Ukrainian government, to lose the remnants of its legitimacy during the war. Otherwise, we risk losing the state.”
Analysts believe that new revelations could further destabilize the president, especially after the SAPO prosecutor stated in court that former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, close to Zelenski, could have been “under the influence” of Mindič.
“I think that at this moment both society and the political class understand that a political crisis would be too dangerous,” said analyst Fesenko, but also concluded: “Much depends on the next steps of the investigation, if new information appears involving Zelensky or the president’s office… then, of course, it will be a new round.”
(TYPE/Source: Index.hr/Photo: X)
