Ukraine is facing one of its worst political crises since Russia’s 2022 invasion. A massive corruption scandal, uncovered in the country’s energy sector, has already forced two ministers to resign and implicated a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Dubbed ‘Operation Midas,’ the anti-corruption raids exposed a network that allegedly embezzled over $100 million, revealing deep-rooted issues inside Ukraine’s war-battered system. As the country fights both on the battlefield and against corruption, Europe is watching closely, with EU membership hopes now hanging in the balance.
00:00As the Russian invasion nears its fourth winter, Ukraine is being rocked by a major corruption
00:07scandal at the heart of its war-battered energy sector. In just a few days, it has led to the
00:14resignation of two ministers and forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to sanction a close ally.
00:21Here is what we know about one of the worst political crises Zelensky has faced
00:25since the start of the war in 2022.
00:30The scandal broke on 10th November, when the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted
00:37some 70 raids to uncover a high-level criminal organization responsible for embezzling $100
00:44million in the energy sector. The operation, dubbed Midas, after the king from Greek myths
00:52who turned everything he touches into gold, led to several arrests. These included a former
00:58advisor to the energy minister and an official from the state nuclear operator Energo Atom.
01:05The anti-corruption agency then gradually released a series of videos featuring wiretapped conversations.
01:12Of those implicated in the scheme, Navu said the graft scheme had forced Energo Atom contractors
01:18to routinely pay 10-15% kickbacks on contracts to avoid facing payment delays or losing their supplier
01:26status. The suspects, said Navu, had created a parallel power structure inside the state enterprise overseeing Ukraine's nuclear power plants, which supply half of the country's energy.
01:38The money was then laundered through a myriad of shell firms, most of them abroad.
01:45The biggest shock came with the accusation that an alleged close friend and a former
01:52business associate of Zelensky, Timur Mindic, had masterminded the scheme. He co-owns the production
01:58company Kvartal 95, founded by Zelensky when he was a star comedian before entering politics and becoming
02:06president in 2019. According to NABU, Mindic controlled the laundering of embezzled money and its distribution.
02:16The 46-year-old is also suspected of influencing senior government officials, including former
02:22defence minister Rustem Umarov, now secretary of the Security Council. Timur Mindic reportedly fled the
02:30country shortly before the probe became public. A source close to Zelensky told AFP he was
02:36furious and appalled by the allegations and fully supported the investigation. Amid growing criticism, Zelensky pledged
02:45transparency, demanding Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk step down.
02:54Both ministers resigned shortly after. Galushchenko, who previously served as Energy Minister, is accused of having
03:01received personal benefits in the scheme former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshev, is also under
03:08investigation. Grinchuk, Galushchenko's former deputy who replaced him this year, is not directly
03:15implicated at this stage. But Ukrainian media have described her as his close associate. Neither
03:22she nor Galushchenko has been formally charged. The scandal has not yet triggered a strong reaction from
03:29the EU. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on Zelensky to take energetic steps to counter
03:37corruption. Germany is Ukraine's top European donor. Eradicating graft is one of the top requirements for
03:44Ukraine's application for EU membership. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been
03:55repeatedly plagued by corruption scandals. In September 2023, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov resigned over
04:04purchases of overpriced uniforms and food for the army. In April, two Defense Ministry officials and the
04:11director of a defense plant and his deputy were arrested on suspicion of supplying tens of thousands
04:18of faulty shells to the army. And corruption is so deeply rooted in the military recruitment system
04:25that in 2023, Zelensky resorted to dismissing all the heads of regional draft offices. Nevertheless,
04:33relations between the presidency and anti-corruption agencies and activists remain strained. This summer,
04:40Zelensky tried to strip independence from the two anti-corruption agencies,
04:45NABU and the anti-corruption prosecutor's office, created a decade ago. After first
04:52mass wartime protests and a backlash from the EU allies, he was forced to backtrack. Ukraine ranks
05:00105th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Index, having moved
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