MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, has failed to vote on the dismissal of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk because the parliament’s rostrum was blocked by ex-President Pyotr Poroshenko (listed by Rosfinmonitoring as involved in extremist activities or terrorism) and his European Solidarity party supporters, a lawmaker said.
"Today, regrettably, the parliament was blocked by the Poroshenko faction and we were unable to vote on the dismissal of the two ministers whose names surfaced in connection with the so-called Mindich tapes. They are suspected of corruption and we should have sacked them, but failed to do so because of the Poroshenko faction," Yury Boiko said on his YouTube channel.
Rada speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk recessed the session without saying when it would be resumed. As the plenary week in Ukraine continues, the Rada may try to return to this matter on November 19-21.
Poroshenko and the European Solidarity Party insist that the entire government, not just two ministers, be dismissed amid the high-profile corruption scandal. They demanded this matter be considered by lawmakers.
Mindich case
On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), both independent from Zelensky’s office, announced an investigation into a major corruption scheme in the energy sector, dubbed Operation Midas. Searches were conducted at the Energoatom energy company and the residences of entrepreneur Timur Mindich and the now suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who served as the country’s energy minister at the time of the events that are being looked into. The investigation found that participants in the scheme had laundered around $100 million. NABU also started to release recordings of conversations from Mindich’s apartment, which revealed discussions of corrupt practices.
On November 11, along with Mindich, charges in the case were brought against former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, who is also seen as a member of Zelensky’s inner circle. On the same day, Ukraine’s government dissolved Energoatom’s board, and on November 12, Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk tendered their resignation. However, Mindich, who some have called Zelensky’s "wallet," left the country a few hours before searches started, and is now in Israel.