{"id":563967,"date":"2025-11-11T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/563967\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T17:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:02:13","slug":"kickback-claims-at-ukraines-atomic-energy-firm-throw-spotlight-on-anti-corruption-fight-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/563967\/","title":{"rendered":"Kickback claims at Ukraine\u2019s atomic energy firm throw spotlight on anti-corruption fight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian<\/a> investigators have detained several people in a high-level $100-million (\u20ac86 million) graft case centred on state nuclear power firm Energoatom, which activists say will test the anti-corruption credentials of the country\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s two main anti-corruption agencies, known by their acronyms Nabu and Sapo, said on Tuesday that five people had been detained and seven notified of their suspected involvement in a \u201ccriminal organisation\u201d that demanded kickbacks in exchange for contracts to supply Energoatom.<\/p>\n

Nabu said the suspects include \u201ca businessman \u2013 the head of the criminal organisation; a former adviser to the minister of energy; the executive director of physical protection and security at … Energoatom\u201d and four others \u201cinvolved in laundering the funds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing their official connections in the ministry and the state-owned company, they ensured control over personnel decisions, procurement processes, and financial flows. In fact, the management of a strategic enterprise … was carried out not by state officials, but by third parties who had no formal authority, [but] took on the role of \u2018overseers\u2019 or \u2018shadow managers\u2019,\u201d Nabu added, referring to Energoatom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn total, approximately $100 million passed through the so-called laundry as its activities were documented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nabu has not named the suspects, but Ukrainian media said one of them was Timur Mindich, who was formerly a close business associate of Mr Zelenskiy and co-owns the television production company that he created before entering politics in 2019.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Daniel McLauglin: Zelenskiy is facing wartime protests for the first time. Why?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mr Mindich reportedly left Ukraine shortly before Nabu swooped on suspects on Monday, in an operation that the agency said involved \u201calmost all of [its] detectives\u201d, included \u201cmore than 70 searches … in Kyiv and other regions\u201d, and yielded \u201ca significant amount of documents and cash\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian media said property linked to justice minister Herman Halushchenko, who was energy minister from 2021 to 2025, was also searched by Nabu investigators. Neither Mr Mindich nor Mr Halushchenko have responded publicly to the reports.<\/p>\n

The case is particularly sensitive because nuclear plants run by Energoatom now produce some 60 per cent of Ukraine\u2019s electricity amid massive Russian missile and drone strikes on other power stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to emphasise that the incident … at the company has not caused any damage to the assets and financial condition of Energoatom, moreover, it has not affected the implementation of production plans and … operational safety,\u201d the firm said on Tuesday. \u201cEnergoatom has been and remains the pillar of Ukraine\u2019s energy system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s anti-corruption efforts are under close scrutiny from western states that prop up its economy and defences after more than 3\u00bd years of full-scale war with Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny effective action against corruption is greatly needed. The inevitability of punishment is essential. Energoatom currently provides Ukraine with the largest share of power generation. Integrity within the company is a priority,\u201d Mr Zelenskiy said on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who has built corrupt schemes must face a clear procedural response. There must be convictions. And government officials must work together with Nabu and law enforcement bodies \u2013 and do it in a way that delivers real results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Zelenskiy faced the first street protests of the full-scale war in July when he curbed the independence of Nabu and Sapo, in what some critics saw as a hostile response to investigations into his allies, including Mr Mindich. He quickly reversed his decision under pressure from demonstrators and European capitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are closely following the reaction of Zelenskiy,\u201d Daria Kaleniuk, executive director at Kyiv\u2019s Anti-Corruption Action Centre, wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there will be new wave of attack on Nabu and Sapo, it will be clear sign that the president decided to cover up his friends instead of supporting justice and interests of the nation of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukrainian investigators have detained several people in a high-level $100-million (\u20ac86 million) graft case centred on state nuclear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657,9041,20729],"class_list":{"0":"post-563967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine","11":"tag-ukraine-crisis","12":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115532145884173703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}