Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to “overhaul” state-owned power firms, after a significant corruption scandal engulfed the nation’s power sector.
Round $100 million (£76m) has been embezzled, anti-graft investigators mentioned, inflicting outrage in a rustic the place Russian assaults have resulted in crippling energy outages.
“Alongside a full audit of their monetary actions, the administration of those firms is to be renewed,” Zelensky wrote in a submit on X on Saturday.
Energoatom, the state nuclear firm on the coronary heart of the scandal, could have a brand new supervisory board “inside every week,” he added.
A number of of these implicated within the scandal have shut hyperlinks to the Ukrainian president.
The scandal is unfolding towards the backdrop of escalating Russian assaults on Ukrainian power amenities, together with substations that offer electrical energy to nuclear energy vegetation.
“I’ve additionally instructed authorities officers to take care of fixed and significant communication with regulation enforcement and anti-corruption our bodies,” Zelensky wrote.
He additionally known as for the fast appointment of a brand new head of Ukrhydroenergo, a hydropower producing firm, and reforms for oil and fuel large Naftogaz and the nation’s Fuel Transmission System Operator.
Two ministers have been compelled to resign over the corruption scheme and a former enterprise accomplice of Zelensky was sanctioned earlier this week when the scandal broke.
On Monday, the Nationwide Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (Nabu) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Workplace (Sap) mentioned the 15 month-long investigation had revealed a number of members of the Ukrainian authorities have been concerned.
A few of these implicated within the scandal are or have been, shut associates of Zelensky’s. Amongst these alleged to be concerned are Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and Timur Mindich – a businessman and a co-owner of Zelensky’s former TV studio Kvartal95.
Zelensky has beforehand mentioned he’s dedicated to totally cooperate with the anti-corruption investigation.
“I’ve additionally instructed authorities officers to take care of fixed and significant communication with regulation enforcement and anti-corruption our bodies,” he mentioned on Saturday.
“The complete transparency and integrity within the power sector stay an absolute precedence.”
However the scandal has introduced Zelensky’s dedication to preventing corruption below scrutiny as soon as once more.
In July, he confronted backlash after he signed a law limiting the independence of Nabu and Sap.
The outrage was solely quelled by Zelensky’s resolution to reinstate their freedom, however the debacle prompted criticism from European allies together with France and Germany, whereas ambassadors from the G7 group of countries expressed the will to debate the difficulty with the Ukrainian management.
