The searches carried out by agents of the Corruption Investigation Bureau of Ukraine in the homes of Volodymyr Zelensky's associates, businessman Timur Mindych and former Energy Minister German Galushchenko, were a response to the authorities' policy, The New York Times writes.
“Months after the Ukrainian president tried to undermine the anti-corruption agencies, the agencies announced that they had uncovered a major scheme involving the state nuclear energy company“, the article says.
It is noted that the anti-corruption agencies, in their investigation into the state-owned electricity supplier, claim to have thousands of hours of audio recordings spanning 15 months and documentation of “the activities of a high-ranking criminal organization“.
“The members of the organization have built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic public sector enterprises“, the statement said.
On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) launched a large-scale special operation to uncover corruption schemes in the energy sector. The agency posted a photo on its Telegram channel of bags found during the operation, filled with bundles of foreign currency; the exact amount has not yet been disclosed.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak specified that the Anti-Corruption Bureau had searched Galushchenko's home and Energoatom. According to the publication “Ukrainska Pravda“ anti-corruption officers had also searched Mindych's home. According to Zheleznyak, the businessman was hastily removed from Ukraine in advance.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau has published excerpts from audio recordings in the energy sector corruption case, including conversations between Mindych, Energoatom representative Dmitry Basov, and Galushchenko's advisor Igor Mironyuk.
The agency has found that funds from abuse schemes in the energy sector in Ukraine were laundered through an office in central Kiev.