Ukraine charges seven in $100 million energy graft scandal

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By Dan Peleschuk and Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian authorities charged seven individuals on Tuesday in relation to an alleged $100 million kickback scheme involving senior energy officials that has caused public anger and focused attention on Kyiv’s battle against corruption.

Ukraine is under pressure to crack down on graft as it seeks European Union membership and courts critical financial support from Western partners while fending off massive Russian attacks on its energy system.

Accusations of kickbacks in the energy sector are particularly sensitive with the broader public, which is facing lengthy daily blackouts across much of the country even before cold winter temperatures set in.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said in a statement that it had detained five suspects and identified two others in a plot to control procurement at state enterprises, particularly nuclear agency Energoatom. None were named.

A source familiar with the matter said the suspect described by NABU as the chief organiser is Timur Mindich, a former business associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Mindich did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to Kvartal 95, a production studio he co-owns where Zelenskiy built his comedy career before his election in 2019.

Others charged in the probe include a former adviser to the energy minister, Energoatom’s head of security and four so-called back office workers. NABU later identified an ex-deputy prime minister as another suspect.

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Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the government had dismissed Energoatom’s supervisory board. An urgent audit of the agency would be conducted, she said, “including its procurement activities”.

“We expect the audit results as soon as possible,” she wrote on Telegram. “The data will be handed over to law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies.”

Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who had previously served as energy minister, was the subject of investigative actions, his ministry said on Tuesday. It did not specify whether this was in relation to the NABU investigation.

Galushchenko’s voice was captured in a recorded conversation with some of the suspects in the case released by NABU, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Galushchenko did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NABU, an independent law enforcement branch, announced the investigation on Monday as Ukraine braces for another winter of widespread power outages. Nuclear power is a key source of electricity generation in Ukraine.

NABU said work on the case had taken 15 months, and that it conducted more than 70 searches across the country.

(Reporting by Max Hunder and Dan Peleshchuk; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Bill Berkrot)