— And therefore the question will arise: we are helping Ukraine, and Ukraine is actually stealing our money. This will be used by representatives of the opposition, as well as some representatives of the authorities in various countries. Therefore, the consequences will be very serious, he emphasizes.
– That means that it undermines our defense capacity quite seriously. I'm not talking about the amount of funds stolen. Everyone can roughly imagine how many FPV drones have been stolen – this theft during the war – Koszel notes.
The political scientist also believes that there will be consequences for the presidential team, but they will not be catastrophic. — Because in recent years, a distorted information field has developed in our country. I think that in the coming days we will see the authorities trying to drown out this topic with a completely different one, says the political scientist.
“This is just the beginning”
On Tuesday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced that it is investigating the corruption scandal in the state energy company Enerhoatom. Seven people are suspected and five people have been detained. NABU reported that it documented how members of a criminal organization transferred money to former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov.
According to the non-governmental organization Center for the Prevention of Corruption, the businessmen who heard the charges include: Tymur Mindicz — businessman and co-owner of the production company Kvartal 95, as well as an associate of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Those involved in the scandal were to systematically collect bribes from contractors of the state-owned operator of nuclear power plants, Enerhoatom, in the amount of 10%. up to 15 percent contract values.
The scandal with Mindich is about the close circle of the President of Ukraine and the vertical structure of power in the country, including in strategic areas, Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Center for the Prevention of Corruption, tells Espreso.
Enerhoatom employees, Kyiv, August 2023Maxim Marusenko / AFP
– This political tsunamiI think this is just the beginning. Because it is about the immediate surroundings of the President of Ukraine and how the vertical structure of power in the country is built, including very strategic areassuch as energy. We learned that the largest state-owned company, which manages four nuclear power plants, is run by some observers, not management, not a supervisory board. And these people simply built a whole scheme to withdraw funds from the Enerhoatom company – adds the expert.
A broader fight against corruption
— If you want to supply something to this company, and the company buys a lot of different devices and different services, you have to pay 10 percent. bribes. And this 10 percent it just ended up in a few people's pockets, says Kaleniuk. He emphasizes that the most cynical element was building shelters for transformer substations, which are extremely important for maintaining the energy sector.
— Nobody there was thinking about actually protecting critical infrastructure, but about how to get as much money as possible, embezzle it and then legalize it. Among the people was the president's friend, the president's business partner, co-owner of Kwartał 95. For about a year now, Tymur Mindicz has been called the person supervising both the energy and defense sectors, as well as the diamond industry – Mindicz is everywhere. A close friend of the president who grew up to be the status of a de facto oligarch. And somehow Mindicz escapes from the country a few hours before the searches. The border service allows him to leave, the secret services allow him to leave, says Kaleniuk.
He notes that one may get the impression that the special services were focused on “saving” Mindicz. — And President Zelensky, whose evening speech I was really looking forward to, appears with a video and devotes 30 seconds to the topic of all these searches. “Yes, we are waiting for the verdicts, the fight against corruption is important, the inevitability of punishment is important.” Then Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko issues a similar statement that we are waiting for the verdicts. But you can wait 10 years for sentences, the expert adds.
NABU detectives conducted a search at Mindicz's home on November 10 in the morning. The businessman himself left Ukraine shortly before. Later, searches took place at the premises of Justice Minister Herman Hałushchenko.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Tuesday the dismissal of the supervisory board of the joint-stock company of the state operator of nuclear power plants (NAEK), Enerhoatom. A decision was also made to remove Halushchenko from his duties as Minister of Justice.
