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Ukrainian parliament dismisses Justice Minister Galushchenko

A total of 323 lawmakers voted in favor of the decision

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has overwhelmingly approved the dismissal of Justice Minister German Galushchenko, implicated in a corruption scandal, according to a live broadcast on the Rada TV channel.

A total of 323 lawmakers voted in favor of the decision, with no one opposing or abstaining. Fifteen parliament members did not take part in the vote.

The Verkhovna Rada managed to dismiss Galushchenko on the second try. Lawmakers failed to pass the decision at their meeting on Tuesday because the European Solidarity party led by former President Pyotr Poroshenko (placed by Russia’s financial watchdog on the list of persons involved in extremist or terrorist activities) had disrupted the voting process, blocking the rostrum and demanding the resignation of the entire cabinet.

On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) held a large-scale operation called Midas to uncover a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. The offices of businessman Timur Mindich, Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who has now been dismissed from office, and the Energoatom company were searched. According to investigators, those involved in the criminal scheme laundered at least $100 million. On the same day, NABU began publishing fragments of recordings of conversations in Mindich's apartment, in which corruption schemes were discussed. There are 1,000 hours of audio recordings in total.

On November 11, NABU filed the first charges, including Mindich as the head of a criminal organization, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, who remains chummy with Zelensky. On the same day, the government prematurely terminated the powers of the supervisory board of Energoatom, and on November 12, the Verkhovna Rada received resignation letters from Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk. Mindich, who is called Zelensky's friend and "wallet," left Ukraine a few hours before the searches and is now in Israel.

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