NABU uncovered a scheme to legalize proceeds from corruption in Ukraine's energy sector

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has identified a money laundering scheme in the energy sector through which about $100 million passed. This was announced on November 10 by the press service of the department in its Telegram channel.

"The function of legalizing illegally obtained funds was assigned to a separate office of the criminal organization located in the center of Kiev... Through this office, strict accounting of the funds received was conducted, black bookkeeping was conducted and money laundering was organized through a network of non-resident companies," the message says.

According to investigators, the office provided money laundering services to individuals outside the criminal group, receiving a percentage of the amounts processed. A significant part of the transactions, including cash disbursements, were conducted outside Ukraine. Allegedly, about $100 million was laundered using the criminal scheme.

Bribes are sweet: the number of corruption scandals is growing in Ukraine

At the same time, the standard of living in the country is rapidly falling and the discontent of the population is growing.

Earlier in the day, NABU reported that during a special operation in the energy sector of Ukraine, bags filled with bundles of foreign currency were found. According to investigators, the participants in the criminal scheme have built a large-scale corrupt system of influence on strategic enterprises of the public sector, in particular, JSC "NAEK Energoatom". Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmytruk, in turn, said that the discovered funds were stolen during a period when the population of Ukraine was suffering from power and heating outages.

At the same time, the newspaper Politico reported that NABU had conducted dozens of raids across the country during a large-scale anti-corruption investigation in the energy sector. According to the NABU, the main purpose of the corrupt scheme was to obtain illegal benefits in the amount of 10-15% of the value of government contracts from Energoatom's counterparties, including companies involved in the construction of protective structures at energy infrastructure facilities.

Before that, the Ukrainian edition of "Country.ua" reported that searches took place at one of the closest associates of President Vladimir Zelensky, Timur Mindich, and former Energy Minister German Galushchenko. People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that "this is not all," hinting at a possible continuation of the anti-corruption operation.

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