The ongoing investigation is the biggest corruption scandal of Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s reign.
Several of his close associates are accused of having been deeply involved in a network that has defrauded at least 100 million dollars that was supposed to go towards the construction of defense works around energy infrastructure – while the same infrastructure has been exposed to extensive Russian attacks.
– This is very serious for Zelenskyj, but also very serious for Ukraine, says Arve Hansen, advisor to the Helsinki Committee.
He has recently visited the country, where the case has caused much fury among the population.
– A recurring word is betrayal. Ukrainians generally have little patience for corruption. It is still one thing to be corrupt in peacetime, and quite another to be corrupt in war, when the money should have been used to defend oneself. It is extremely ugly, says Hansen.
Trump’s recent draft of a peace plan came on top of the corruption scandal. Read more about the peace plan here.
Close friends involved
Table of Contents
The anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO have been releasing more and more information about the investigation in recent weeks.
Specifically, they believe they have discovered that the network has demanded between 10 and 15 percent in bribes from all private suppliers to the state nuclear power company Energoatom, in exchange for continuing the contracts.
Eight people have been charged with complicity in bribery, embezzlement and illegal enrichment. In the center is the president’s old friend and business partner Timur Mindich, who left the country shortly before the police searched his home. Former Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Chernyshev is another close friend said to have been involved.
The case is being investigated by the same bodies that were tried to have their wings clipped this summer when the president signed a law that weakened their independence. It triggered large protests in Ukraine and pressure from the EU, which forced Zelenskyj into a quick retreat.
– We are in a pre-war era
– The law was probably an attempt to avoid this case coming up, says Hansen.
During his visit to Ukraine, he met colleagues who work on anti-corruption. Among other things, the colleagues have worked to get the two NABU employees released who were arrested this summer at around the same time as the now-rejected law was passed.
One of them, Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, was involved in the investigation that is now being rolled out. He is accused of having assisted his father in business with Russia. In an interview with Suspilne from prison, he claims to have become a target for the SBU security service because of this and other cases he has investigated, which parts of the SBU allegedly wanted to cover up.
Ask to throw the chief of staff
A currently unanswered question is what the president and his office have known.
– It lies between the lines that someone must have known and approved of this – either they have been in on it or neglected their roles as leaders, says Hansen.
After the case became known, Zelenskyi has introduced sanctions against Mindich. He has also fired Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who is accused of being involved in the fraud, and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynshchuk, who is not accused of involvement. Both deny having done anything wrong.
It is assumed that more heads will roll.
It is widely agreed that the president cannot resign in the middle of the war, but several key people in the president’s apparatus are said to have asked him to fire his right-hand man – the powerful chief of staff Andrij Jermak, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
He heads the presidential administration and is controversial in Ukraine.
– In the eyes of ordinary people, he is seen as a Machiavellian power player who takes on power he should not really have, says Jørn Holm-Hansen, senior researcher at OsloMet.
Claimed to be behind the rejected law
Neither the president nor the chief of staff are suspected of involvement in the fraud, but…
– Andrij Jermak is so influential and so deep in so many cases that it is impossible to carry out such large-scale corruption without his knowledge and understanding, says Daria Kaleniuk, managing director of the organization Anti-Corruption Action Center, to the Kyiv Independent.
Both Hansen and Holm-Hansen believe that she has a point.
– As I know the system, such a person is not ignorant of this kind of filth. His way of governing is, among other things, through informal contacts with “gutta boys”, so it is not unlikely that it is true, says Holm-Hansen.
Several sources claim to the same newspaper that it was Jermak who was behind this summer’s “attack” on the anti-corruption hunters. There is also much evidence that the designated mastermind Timur Mindich was notified before the police took action against his apartment.
Hansen believes that it is far in the future for Zelenskyj to fire the chief of staff.
– Zelenskyj finds it difficult to replace people he trusts. He is afraid for his own life, and needs people he can trust 100 percent. That is probably the reason why he has doubted several people, including Jermak.
On Tuesday 18 November, Ukraine attacked two power plants in Russian-occupied Donetsk.
– There has been a lot of improvement
Russian authorities are using the scandal for all it’s worth.
– It is clear that the toxicity of the Kyiv regime is manifesting itself here, and this toxicity is being felt in Europe – they are experiencing serious discomfort, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Wednesday.
Corruption is widespread in Ukraine, but far more widespread in Russia.
– Ukraine has done a lot to get rid of corruption, and there has been a lot of improvement in a short time. The fact that this case is now being rolled out also means that the systems are working, and are able to take people right to the top, says Hansen.
The corruption affects the Ukrainians’ defense war directly, but can also affect international support.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has called the case “extremely unfortunate” and asked the Ukrainian government to take the matter seriously and act quickly.
– Ukraine is dependent on remaining supporters in Europe. In several countries, such as Germany and Poland, support is on the decline, because the war is dragging on. Many voters no longer want to sacrifice welfare and live in expensive times to give support that ends up in the pockets of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business people, says Holm-Hansen.
