Ukraine Raids Top Officials in Energy Corruption Probe

Ukraine’s top anti-corruption authorities on Monday searched properties linked to senior government officials and a former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of a sweeping investigation into alleged graft in the country’s energy sector.

The alleged scheme involved “kickbacks” from contractors hired to build fortifications to defend energy infrastructure against Russian missiles and drones. It will add to concerns among Ukraine’s chief partners that the country needs to tackle graft as it seeks billions more dollars in western support for its war effort and economy.

In a statement and 27-minute video laying out its findings, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) said its investigators and officials from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) had conducted a “large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector”.

It followed a 15-month probe that had already gathered some 1,000 hours of audio recordings as evidence. “Today, we are conducting the final phase of this operation, with 70 searches being carried out,” said Oleksandr Abakumov, the head of one of Nabu’s detective units.

A person with knowledge of the probe said that former energy minister and current justice minister German Galushchenko as well as Timur Mindich, a wealthy businessman and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 entertainment company founded with Zelenskyy, were among those under investigation.

The person said Nabu investigators searched properties related to the men and several other suspects early Monday. Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak also confirmed the searches linked to Galushchenko and Mindich in a post on Telegram. He added that he had submitted a proposal to parliament to dismiss Galushchenko.

Nabu said the “large-scale corruption scheme” attempted to influence public enterprises of strategic importance, including Ukraine’s national nuclear power company Energoatom.

It published photographs of bags stuffed full of US dollars, euros and Ukrainian hryvnia and said that about $100mn had been “laundered” in the scheme.