Voting in the Verkhovna Rada, the unicameral parliament of Ukraine, PHOTO: Ukrinform / ddp USA / Profimedia
The Supreme Rada, the unicameral parliament in Kyiv, voted on Wednesday to dismiss the Minister of Justice, Gherman Galushchenko, ex-Minister of Energy, and his successor, Svitlana Grinciuk, amid a corruption scandal in the energy sector and vehement calls for resignations, reports dpa, according to Agerpres.
A clear two-thirds majority of the Supreme Rada voted in favor of dismissing the two.
Earlier, the European Solidarity opposition group, led by former president Petro Poroshenko, blocked the podium, demanding the resignation of the entire Government.
Only after Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kacika answered the questions of the deputies, the vote could take place.
Galushchenko and Grinciuk were not present in the hall. Both submitted their resignations a week ago at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Last week, leaked media records of bribery conversations involving state nuclear power plant operator Energoatom sparked a political crisis in the country, now in its fourth year of war with Russia.
According to the investigation, 100 million dollars in state funds were defrauded through this corruption scheme.
Timur Mindici, a close and former business partner of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, fled the country as the scandal deepened and hours before his home was raided by anti-corruption prosecutors.
Oleksi Cernîșov, a former deputy prime minister also close to the president, is also under suspicion of corruption. Other government officials are also allegedly involved in a bribery scandal in the defense sector.
Zelenski announced a restructuring of the management of the country's most important energy companies.
“Along with a full audit of financial activities, a management renewal must begin at these companies,” he wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
He also said he had agreed next steps with Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, who had previously announced a “comprehensive audit” of all major state-owned companies amid scandals in the energy and defense sectors.
The audit will focus in these and other sectors on transparency in government procurement and financial control. Sviridenko specifically mentioned oil and gas company Naftogaz and Ukrainian Railways.
