“First, I instructed the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to submit for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada an urgent bill on updating the composition of the National Commission that carries out state regulation in the fields of energy and utilities. Second, to update the leadership of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation and the State Inspectorate for Energy Supervision. Third, I instructed the Prime Minister to submit for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada a proposal for the appointment of the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine,” the president noted.
The fourth point he named was ensuring the renewal of the Asset Tracing and Management Agency (ARMA) and the prompt completion of the competition for the position of its head, so that a new head could be determined by the end of this year. The fifth is the prompt conduct of an audit and preparation for the sale of assets and shares in assets “belonging to Russian entities and collaborators who fled to Russia.”
Zelensky stressed that all such facilities “must operate one hundred percent in the interests of Ukraine to ensure our defense and fill Ukraine’s budget.”
On the eve of November 15, the President of Ukraine announced the start of a reboot of the main state-owned enterprises operating in the energy field.
Context
On November 10, NABU announced Operation Midas to expose a “high-level criminal organization” that was engaged in extortion at Energoatom. According to the investigation, the state-owned company's contractors were offered to pay a kickback of 10% to 15% for goods and services, threatening to block payments from the budget or break off cooperation.
Investigative actions were also carried out against the current Minister of Justice. German Galushchenko (ex-head of the Ministry of Energy), who is called Professor and Sigismund in NABU wiretaps. In general, four ministers from different parts of the Ukrainian government are involved in the Energoatom case, the head of the NABU detective department, Alexander Abakumov, told Ukrainskaya Pravda. In particular, NABU reported suspicion of illegal enrichment to former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Chernyshev.
People's Deputy from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak accused the head of the Ministry of Energy Svetlana Grinchuk of involvement in this story. She replied that she “didn’t understand the claims.” However, after Zelensky’s video message on November 12, in which he said that, in his opinion, Galushchenko and Grinchuk “cannot remain in their positions,” the energy minister wrote a letter of resignation. It was also written by Galushchenko. It is planned that the Rada will consider them on November 18.
The head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, called the corruption scandal in the Ukrainian Energoatom extremely unfortunate.
The media wrote that possible corruption at Energoatom puts the EU in an awkward position amid the process of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. European allies are demanding an explanation from Ukraine over an energy corruption scandal, Politico reported on November 14.
