The magic circle of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky lost another pillar: the Minister of Justice, German Galushchenkowas fired yesterday by the Council of Ministers for his heavy involvement in the scandal of Energoatom, the Ukrainian state energy giant that manages four nuclear power plants in the country (the largest, Zaporizhzhia, is under Russian control). In Zelensky’s team, and the head of Yermak’s Presidential Office, he is one of the most loyal and certainly not a last-minute appointment: with Zelensky as president he became vice-president of Energoatom in 2020, then in 2021 he was appointed Minister of Energy and also with this year’s reshuffle – in mid-July – he was fully confirmed in the team, becoming Minister of Justice.
A group of corrupt individuals and sharks steal contracts financed by international aid to protect nuclear power plants and their energy infrastructure from attacks by Russia, which is gradually eliminating electricity distribution in Ukraine. In that gang Galushchenko would become a “professor”, so it was recorded in the Nabu archives. A thousand hours of audio recording, fifteen months of investigation by the Sapo anti-corruption prosecutor’s office and its executive body, Nabu, while the majority in parliament controlled by Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” party tried to obstruct their work. They arrested the supervisors, and tried to hand them over to the Attorney General’s Office, which is controlled directly by the President’s Office.
The latest clash, a gag law signed by Zelensky but opposed in the streets by the Ukrainian side, ended with the president backtracking, and forcing him to withdraw the measure. War without a net: Ruslan Magamedrasulovhead of the Nabu investigation section, was arrested on July 21 this year by the SBU, the secret service of Zelensky loyalists, Vasil Malyukon charges of collaborating with Russia, illegal trafficking of industrial hemp and disseminating classified information. Magedrasulov is investigating it Timur Mindichco-owner of the “Kvartal 95” studio founded by Zelensky and a close friend of the president: he was one of the key figures in the Energoatom scandal, and was miraculously saved by fleeing Ukraine on the same day that Nabu agents appeared at his house.
According to channel24 from Ukrainian TV, Mindich will be seen in Tel Aviv along with the Zuckerman brothers, who are also involved in the scandal in the chapter regarding the laundering of bribes: a fortune worth one hundred million dollars in fresh Federal Reserve notes and euros, part of the aid given to Ukraine to protect its power plants. And Magamedrasulov also investigated other figures closest to President Zelensky: Oleksiy Chernyshovformer deputy prime minister, the only minister invited to the scandalous party to celebrate the president’s birthday – right at Mindich’s house – during the restrictions Zelensky himself launched for Covid.
“This case is perhaps the biggest corruption exposure in Ukrainian history, as it involves Zelensky’s personal friend and business partner, Timur Midnich. If the investigation reaches its peak and the people involved in the corruption case have to be fired, this could threaten Zelensky’s architecture of power,” commented the first news with Republic Yuriy Nikolovone of Ukraine’s most famous investigative journalists and founder of Nashi Hroshi. The level of leadership has been reached, and resignation has arrived.
Ukraine, a major energy procurement scandal: a minister and Zelensky’s friend are involved
by Paolo Brera
But this is not the first time that the power of President Zelensky, the man who was able to embrace his country and lead his country to resist the Russian invasion, also resisted the storms and touching judicial scandals and even entered his own presidential office. The list of people fired for excessive interference, or arrested for being caught red-handed, is long: including the Minister of Defense Reznikov and Attorney General Andriy Kostindeputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, deputy minister Vasil Lozynskyideputy head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko and representative of “Servants of the People” Mykola Tyshchenko.
The announcement of Galushchenko’s resignation as the new Minister of Justice, who took office only 4 months ago, was made by the Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenkoalso very loyal, being appointed prime minister in the same reshuffle in July. The decision was taken this morning at an extraordinary government meeting, and the role was handed over to the Deputy Minister for European Integration Lyudmila Sugak. “I completely agree – commented Galushchenko – I will not stick to the minister’s position. I believe that dismissal during an investigation is a civilized and correct scenario. I will defend myself at the legal level and show my position”.
But it wasn’t just his fate that was shaking. The gang profits between 10 and 15 percent of the contracts of energy giant Energoatom, which has a turnover of 200 billion dollars a year and is of strategic importance for the country’s survival, as it generates more than half of the electricity circulating in Ukraine. Hours after the public disclosure of news that would have spread beforehand if it had allowed Mindich to save himself by leaving the country, President Zelensky reacted with a clear statement: “The fight against corruption is a priority, those who build corruption schemes must accept clear and concrete procedural responses, with confidence, and government officials must work together with Nabu and law enforcement to get real results.”
But there is another interesting detail: all the money confiscated by the gang was laundered by an office in Kiev belonging to the family of the former Russian deputy and now senator, Andriy Derkach. And the mastermind of the organization, according to investigators, is one of the owners of Kvartal-95 and a former associate of President Zelensky, Timur Mindich, referred to in the Nabu archives as “Karlson”. “In considering Nabu investigators’ motion to arrest Ihor Myronyuk, accused in the Energoatom investigation, the prosecution – wrote Ukrainian Pravda – noted that Zelensky’s close friend Timur Mindich had influence over former Energy Minister Galushchenko and former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (current secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, chaired by Zelensky, ed). Prosecutors also noted that Mindich developed a relationship with Galushchenko through his contacts with Zelensky.”
