Ukrainian ex-minister accused of money laundering in major corruption case

Ukraine's anti-corruption police accused an ex-energy minister on Monday of helping launder kickbacks and stashing millions offshore, a day after he was detained trying to leave the country in a case that has shaken Kyiv's wartime government.

The arrest of German Galushchenko was the first major development for months in the "Midas" bribery case, which has loomed over Ukraine's domestic politics since last year by reaching into President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's inner circle.

The case has ensnared senior figures including a personal business associate of Zelenskiy and led to the resignation of Zelenskiy's powerful chief of staff and confidante.

In unveiling the accusations against Galushchenko, Ukraine's anti-corruption agency NABU said it was working with 15 foreign jurisdictions to expand its investigation.

Galushchenko, who served as energy minister from 2021-2025 and then briefly as justice minister until he resigned over the scandal last year, becomes one of the most senior officials detained in the case, which centres on an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at the state nuclear company.

Galushchenko has denied any wrongdoing. He did not respond to a message seeking comment and Reuters was unable to locate a lawyer representing him.

NABU said more than $7 million had been transferred to foreign accounts that named Galushchenko's wife and four children as beneficiaries, after it was laundered in a complex offshore scheme by co-conspirators.

Some was spent on educating the children at elite schools in Switzerland and some placed in "a deposit, from which the family of the high-ranking official received additional income and spent it on their own needs".

The agency had announced on Sunday that Galushchenko was detained while crossing the border, without specifying where the arrest took place.

MAJOR POLITICAL SCANDAL

Prosecutors say the scheme was aimed at squeezing nuclear company Energoatom's contractors for bribes to complete infrastructure projects, including structures to protect energy facilities from Russian airstrikes.

They have previously said the plot was organised by former Zelenskiy associate Timur Mindich, who fled to Israel before he could be arrested in November. Mindich founded the TV studio behind the hit sitcom that brought Zelenskiy fame as an actor before he entered politics. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The case had gone comparatively quiet since November, when a former deputy prime minister was also arrested and Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak stepped down. But NABU officials had insisted they were still working on it.

Agency director Semen Kryvonos told Reuters earlier this month that his detectives were focused on pursuing the case despite its complexity, to prove it could deliver.

"That's our main goal in this case. Not hype, not loud statements - but a real result," he said.

Zelenskiy - elected in 2019 on a pledge to clean up politics - has so far managed to navigate the scandal, but could still be tarnished if more of his allies are named as suspects, said Kyiv-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.

"This case is like a mine with a delayed fuse: it can still explode - just later, and after the fighting ends."

Zelenskiy's personal popularity suffered last year after he tried to limit the independence of the anti-corruption agencies, before reversing in the face of the war's first major public protests and pressure from Western allies.

Battling corruption is one of the key demands of the European Union to admit Ukraine as a member, a goal Zelenskiy aims to enshrine in peace talks to end the war.

In year-end reporting released last week, NABU said it had launched 737 cases, named 218 suspects, sent 124 cases to court and obtained 95 convictions in 2025.