LONDON, November 12. /TASS/. The corruption scandal in Ukraine involving members of the government and businessman Timur Mindich, who is close to the authorities, could mark the end of Vladimir Zelensky's political career, Owen Matthews, a columnist for The Spectator, wrote.
"Nabu’s (the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - TASS) 15-month long investigation into what it describes as ‘high level’ corruption at the top of Ukraine’s political elite is likely to have momentous consequences for Zelensky’s political future," he noted.
In his view, a full-scale confrontation is brewing between independent anti-corruption agencies and Zelensky’s inner circle, the consequences of which could be severe. Matthews also pointed out that the leadership of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) may side with Zelensky.
"Ukraine’s National Security Service, known as the SBU, is loyal to Zelensky and wields considerable domestic power through its control of the judicial system and prisons. Nabu and Sapo (the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office - TASS), on the other hand, are heavily backed politically and financially by European and US governments and helped operationally by Western security agencies. That perceived nexus of notional independence and de facto Western control has prompted some Ukrainian politicians to denounce Nabu as a tool of foreign domination," the columnist observed.
On November 10, Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities launched an operation targeting corruption in the energy sector. Searches were conducted at the homes of Mindich, who is widely referred to as "Zelensky’s wallet man," former Energy Minister and current Justice Minister German Galushchenko, and at the offices of the company Energoatom. Recordings of conversations related to the case were later published, though the names of those involved were not disclosed.
According to Ukrainian media reports, charges have been filed against Mindich, former advisor to the Energy Minister Igor Mironyuk, Energoatom’s Executive Director for Security Dmitry Basov, businessmen Alexander Zuckerman and Igor Fursenko, as well as Lessa Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina. The latter three reportedly worked in the so-called back office, which was engaged in money-laundering operations. According to investigators, the participants in the scheme laundered about $100 million. In addition, charges in this case were also brought against former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov.