At an extraordinary meeting, the government decided to remove Herman Halushchenko from the duties of Minister of Justice.
This was reported by the Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
The duties of the minister were assigned to Deputy Minister for European Integration Lyudmila Suhak.
Svyrydenko did not specify the reasons for Halushchenkoʼs removal, however, it is likely related to the NABU investigation into possible corruption in the energy sector — the tapes published by law enforcement officers show Halushchenko during the period when he was Minister of Energy.
And the SAPO prosecutor claimed that, with the assistance of Halushchenko, businessman Tymur Mindich controlled financial flows in the gas and energy sectors of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Halushchenko reacted on Facebook to his removal from the post of Minister of Justice.
"I completely agree: a political decision needs to be made, and only then deal with all the details. I am not holding on to the position of minister and will not hold on. I believe that suspension for the duration of the investigation is a civilized and correct scenario," he wrote.
He added that he will defend himself legally and prove his position.
The “Energoatom” case
On the morning of November 10, NABU reported a large-scale operation "Midas" to expose corruption in the energy sector.
According to the bureau, “Energoatom” counterparties were forced to pay kickbacks in order to avoid blocking payments for services provided/products delivered or losing their supplier status. This practice was called "barrier".
Five people were detained in this case, and seven were declared suspects. These are:
- a businessman — the head of a criminal organization, who appeared in NABU recordings as "Carlson";
- former advisor to the Minister of Energy — "Rocket";
- Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC NNEGC “Energoatom” — "Tenor";
- four "employees" of the back office for money laundering.
NABU does not name any of the defendants, but the MP from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak claims that "Carlson" is Tymur Mindich, who is called a friend of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and one of the co-owners of the company "Studio Kvartal-95".
According to Zheleznyak, "Rocket" is the former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk, and "Tenor" is the executive director for physical protection and security of “Energoatom” Dmytro Basov.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, a position held at the time by Herman Halushchenko, the current Minister of Justice of Ukraine. He was searched as part of the case.
NABU also claims that the participants in the scheme transferred money to the former Deputy Prime Minister. Presumably, this is Oleksiy Chernyshov. He has already been charged with illegal enrichment.
According to NABU, in the case of corruption in the energy sector, the defendants legalized approximately $100 million through an office owned by the family of the former MP and current Senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.
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