Ukraine charges former energy minister in corruption case
Ukraine has charged former energy minister German Galushchenko with money laundering and participation in a criminal association in connection with a broad corruption case centered on energoatom,the state-owned nuclear company. The charges, announced by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), followed his arrest as he attempted to flee the country.Prosecutors say more than $7 million was moved to foreign accounts linked to Galushchenko’s wife and four children, with funds used for elite education in Switzerland and other deposits from which the family benefited. Galushchenko, who served as energy minister from 2021 to 2025 and was justice minister last year before resigning amid a separate $100 million kickback scandal, is accused of involvement in a kickback scheme within Energoatom as part of the so‑called Operation Midas. The examination also implicates high‑level figures connected to government and business interests, including Tymur Mindich, a partner of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Kvartal 95 troupe, who reportedly obtained up to 15% of contract value and fled to Israel.
Ukraine charges former energy minister in connection to wide-ranging corruption case
Ukraine’s former justice and energy minister was charged Monday in connection with a sweeping money laundering scheme, months after he resigned from office over the scandal.
German Galushchenko was “exposed for money laundering and participation in a criminal organization,” according to the country’s two leading anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The charges came a day after Galushchenko was arrested trying to leave the country. They revolve around a kickback scheme in the country’s public energy sector, involving Energoatom, a state-owned nuclear power company.
NABU said more than $7 million had been transferred to foreign accounts naming Galushchenko’s wife and four children as beneficiaries. Some was spent on educating the children at elite schools in Switzerland, and some was placed in “a deposit, from which the family of the high-ranking official received additional income and spent it on their own needs,” according to the anti-corruption agency.
Galushchenko served as energy minister from 2021 through 2025. He became Ukraine’s justice minister last year, before resigning in November after being implicated in a $100 million kickback scheme involving senior officials.
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At the heart of the scandal is Energoatom, entangled in an alleged 0 million kickback scheme. Former deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov was also identified in the “Operation Midas” case, with the state auditors determining that a high-level criminal organization comprising government officials and businessmen infiltrated the company to launder money and secure benefits illegally.
The Midas investigation has also centered on a key business partner of Volodymyr Zelensky’s before he became president. Tymur Mindich, the co-owner of the Kvartal 95 comedy troupe that Zelensky co-founded, was heavily involved in the kickback scheme, according to authorities, in which contractors for Energoatom allegedly had to pay up to 15% of the contract value to receive payment for services rendered. Mindich fled the country in November 2025 and was filmed by the Ukrainian Truth news outlet in Israel, according to the Washington Post.
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