Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, amid a corruption scandal, dismissed the heads of the Justice Ministry and the Energy Ministry

On Wednesday, November 19, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to dismiss Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk amid a corruption scandal surrounding the state enterprise Energoatom.

As RBC-Ukraine reports, during the vote on Halushchenko’s dismissal, 338 deputies were present: 323 voted in favor, and 15 did not vote. When the decision on Hrynchuk was taken, 315 out of 336 members of parliament supported her resignation. The ministers themselves were not present at the session. Lyudmyla Suhak, the deputy minister responsible for European integration, has been appointed acting head of the Justice Ministry. It is not yet specified who will replace Hrynchuk.

Zelensky demanded the ministers’ resignation, while the opposition wanted the entire cabinet gone

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded the dismissal of the justice and energy ministers back on November 12. The head of state noted that they “cannot remain in their positions” against the backdrop of the ongoing corruption investigation: “This is also a question of trust. If there are accusations, they must be answered.”

Halushchenko and Hrynchuk submitted their resignation letters the same day, and the Verkhovna Rada planned to vote on the ministers on November 18. However, this could not be done because at the parliamentary session the opposition faction European Solidarity blocked the rostrum, demanding the dismissal of the entire government of Yuliia Svyrydenko, not just the two ministers.

The Energoatom corruption case

Earlier, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) reported that they had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme in the state company Energoatom. On November 10, law enforcement conducted searches at the company, as well as at Halushchenko’s premises, who had headed the Energy Ministry before moving to the Justice Ministry, and at those of Tymur Mindich — a long-time associate of Zelensky and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio. Mindich left the country a few hours before the searches.

“The main activity of the criminal organization was the systematic receipt of unlawful benefits from Energoatom’s counterparties in the amount of 10% to 15% of contract value. In particular, Energoatom’s counterparties were forced to agree to kickback payments to avoid blocked payments for services rendered/products supplied or to avoid losing their supplier status,” NABU wrote.

On November 11, the Energoatom supervisory board held an extraordinary meeting, after which Prime Minister Svyrydenko announced that the government had decided to terminate the powers of the current composition of the company’s supervisory board ahead of schedule.