Unicaus NEWS
The accusations towards Timur Mindich are the newest episode in a sweeping corruption scandal involving claims of huge embezzlement from the power sector, even because the nation’s infrastructure is battered by Russian assaults.
Mindich co-owns the media manufacturing firm Kvartal 95, based by Mr. Zelenskyy, who was a star comic earlier than working for workplace.
“Mindich exercised management over the buildup, distribution, and legalisation of cash obtained by prison means within the power sector of Ukraine,” a prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) mentioned.
The suspect used “pleasant relations with the president of Ukraine” in his prison exercise, the prosecutor added throughout a pre-trial listening to for an additional man accused of involvement within the scheme.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) mentioned on Monday (November 10) it had uncovered a graft scheme within the power sector involving $100 million of laundered funds.
“Detectives have detained 5 people and notified seven members of the organisation of suspicion,” NABU mentioned in a press release in a while Tuesday (November 11), that means expenses had been introduced towards the seven.
Among them was “a businessman – the top of the prison organisation”, the bureau added, with out naming him – an obvious reference to Mindich, who was earlier recognized by the prosecutors because the mastermind of the scheme.
SAPO additionally accused Justice Minister German Galushchenko, beforehand an Energy Minister for 4 years, of receiving “private advantages” from Mindich in trade for management over the cash flows within the power sector.
Ukraine’s Justice Ministry mentioned Mr. Galushchenko was cooperating with the investigators and that he would chorus from additional feedback.
AFP reached out to Kvartal 95 outdoors of enterprise hours for Mindich’s response to accusations however acquired no rapid response.
NABU carried out mass raids following a 15-month investigation into the power sector, which has been below common assault since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The head of NABU’s investigating staff Oleksandr Abakumov informed Ukrainian state TV that Mindich had left the nation shortly earlier than the raids.
Energy below assault
Accusations of embezzlement from the power trade at a time of relentless assaults and widespread energy shortages have stoked contemporary public anger.
Moscow had escalated assaults on Ukraine’s power sector forward of the struggle’s fourth winter, by launching swarms of drones together with missiles.
They hit era amenities in addition to energy transmission and distribution programs all on the identical time, complicating the restore works.
After the raids on Monday (November 10), Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned all actions towards corruption had been “very essential”, encouraging officers to cooperate with the anti-corruption our bodies. He didn’t instantly touch upon the costs towards Mindich.
The Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday (November 11) sacked the supervisory board of Energoatom, the state nuclear power operator, which was a cornerstone of the graft scheme, in accordance with the investigators. This, together with an pressing state-led audit, was described by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko as “the primary selections for the relaunch of ‘Energoatom’”.
Eradicating systemic corruption is without doubt one of the high necessities for Ukraine’s software for EU membership and any hurdles to it would decelerate the accession.
Mr. Zelenskyy confronted an enormous backlash from Ukrainians and Brussels over the summer time when he tried to deliver the 2 impartial anti-corruption our bodies, NABU and SAPO, below the federal government’s management.
Published – November 12, 2025 03:01 am IST
