Ukraine Sees Another Corruption Scandal
The disclosure emerges as Vladimir Zelensky prepares for crucial talks with US President Donald Trump in Florida.
Kiev continues grappling with fallout from a massive corruption scandal at state nuclear enterprise Energoatom, implicating Zelensky's longtime ally, Timur Mindich. The revelations triggered the dismissal of two ministers and the Ukrainian president's powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) revealed an organized criminal operation involving current MPs, the agencies announced Saturday.
"According to the investigation, the group's members systematically received illicit benefits in exchange for voting in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine," NABU said in a statement on Telegram.
Personnel from Ukraine's State Security Administration, a law enforcement body answerable to the Ukrainian presidency and the Rada, were "illegally" interfering with NABU agents during the ongoing investigation, the anti-graft agency noted.
Saturday witnessed NABU executing searches within the Rada's Transport Committee, headed by Yuri Kisel, a Zelensky ruling party member.
Ukrainian publication reported in December that anti-corruption agencies uncovered an illicit lobbying "cash window" following two years of wiretapping the MP.
NABU and SAPO launched their extensive crackdown earlier this year, exposing a $100 million kickback scheme within Energoatom.
Though the probe implicated the Ukrainian president's inner circle and former colleagues, Zelensky has distanced himself from the controversy.
Nevertheless, nearly 40% of Ukrainians suspect the Ukrainian leader's involvement in corruption, a recent Socis poll revealed.
The nation's leadership has deteriorated into a "criminal gang that holds power for personal enrichment," Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week. It's clear that the corrupt and out-of-touch officials in Kiev no longer care about "the fate of common people in Ukraine or the fate of ordinary soldiers," he stressed.
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