MPs of the “European Solidarity” party, led by its leader Petro Poroshenko, blocked the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada during a meeting at which they were to vote on the dismissal of Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk.
This became known from the Verkhovna Rada broadcast.
The MPs stated that they would not vote to dismiss the heads of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Energy, calling them “scapegoats".
Instead, they are demanding the resignation of the entire current Cabinet of Ministers and the formation of a coalition. Blocking the rostrum, the EU deputies shouted: "Get out Government".
After that, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada reported a recess in the plenary session, without considering the resolutions on the dismissal of Halushchenko and Hrynchuk, who appear in the case of corruption in the energy sector.
Operation “Midas” — investigation into corruption in the energy sector
On November 10 and 11, NABU released four parts of the wiretap audio recordings and announced a large-scale "Midas" operation 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 and products supplied or losing their supplier status. This practice was called "barrier".
Members of the organization systematically received 10-15% as a bribe from “Energoatom” counterparties. Using this scheme, they legalized approximately $100 million through an office owned by the family of former MP and current senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.
Five people were detained in this case, and seven were declared suspects. Their names were later reported by the SAPO prosecutor at court hearings:
- businessman Tymur Mindich, who appeared in the NABU recordings as "Carlson" and is considered the organizer of the scheme;
- former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk (“Rocket”);
- Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC NNEGC “Energoatom” Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”);
- four "employees" of the back office for money laundering: Oleksandr Zukerman ("Sugarman"), Ihor Fursenko ("Rioshyk"), Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
Myronyuk, Basov, Zorina, Fursenko, and Ustymenko have already been sent to custody, and sanctions have been imposed against Mindich and Zukerman. Subsequently, a total of 37 million hryvnias in bail was posted for Zorina and Ustymenko.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, who at the time was Herman Halushchenko. He was searched in the case, and on November 12 he was removed from his post as Minister of Justice.
The SAPO prosecutor claimed that one of the defendants in the case interviewed Svitlana Hrynchuk, who later replaced Halushchenko as Minister of Energy.
Both ministers have resigned. Zelensky has already removed both ministers from the National Security and Defense Council.
Subsequently, Zelensky and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko reported an audit of the largest state-owned companies and a large-scale "reset" in energy management.
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