Justice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation
\n KYIV
\nA major corruption scandal and mounting accusations that the Ukrainian presidency is using the judiciary to intimidate and silence critics has rocked Kyiv, presenting a significant test for Volodymyr Zelensky almost four years into the Russian invasion.
\nJustice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation into one of Zelensky\u2019s top allies, who is accused of orchestrating a $100-million scheme to secure kickbacks from the power sector.
\nWhile Galushchenko denies any wrongdoing, the scandal has sparked anger as Ukraine\u2019s electricity grid is creaking under a barrage of attacks from Russia as the country heads into winter.
\nThese challenges come at a critical time for Zelensky, who has remained popular and largely unchallenged since Russia invaded in 2022, with Moscow\u2019s forces advancing in the east.
\nIt also shows how strained the tightrope that Ukraine has been forced to walk \u2013 between centralising power to run the war, and forging on with democratic reforms key to joining the EU \u2013 is becoming.
\nThe latest case to trigger accusations that Zelensky\u2019s team are weaponizing the judicial system to intimidate critics was last month\u2019s arrest of Volodymyr Kudrytsky, who led national energy company Ukrenergo until 2024, on embezzlement accusations.
\nKudrytsky and his backers reject the claims as retribution for criticizing Ukraine\u2019s strategy to defend the energy grid from Russian attacks.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s purely political. It couldn\u2019t happen without the involvement of the presidential office,\u201d Kudrytsky, currently on bail, said, saying that he was being lined up as a scapegoat.
\nThe authorities want to \u201cdemonstrate what will happen if you comment on sensitive matters,\u201d he added, pointing to his strained ties with the country\u2019s leadership.
\n\u2018Something they don\u2019t like\u2019
\nKudrytsky has won some high-profile supporters.
\nBusiness ombudsman Roman Waschuk said the evidence \u201cappears quite flimsy\u201d and warned against \u201ctargeting people for simply performing their normal corporate functions.\u201d
\nOpposition lawmaker Inna Sovsun said it was part of a strategy of using criminal investigations to silence people.
\n\u201cSo you know there is a case against you, and they will try to use it if you do something they don\u2019t like,\u201d she said.
\nAsked by AFP about the case last week, Zelensky said it was a question for the judiciary but that Kudrytsky \u201cwas a chief of a big system, and that system had to secure our energy. He had to do it.\u201d
\nThe grid has been battered by Russian attacks and charges that Kyiv could have done more to protect the network are sensitive.
\nAlongside the court cases, this week\u2019s allegations of a massive corruption scandal involving Timur Mindich, co-owner of the production company founded by the president, have fueled worries about the centralization of power amid the war.
\nZelensky\u2019s office had this summer tried to strip the independence of the two agencies investigating and prosecuting the case \u2013 the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO).
\nThe dynamic presents a challenge to Brussels, which supports Ukraine\u2019s bid to join the bloc but is pressing Kyiv to build on democratic reforms if it wants to join the bloc.
\nSince the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been plagued by corruption scandals \u2013 with graft and rule-of-law major vulnerabilities in Kyiv\u2019s EU bid.
\nWhile Brussels has praised progress made since the 2014 revolution, its latest monitoring report said: \u201cThe integrity, meritocracy and capacities of the judiciary and prosecutorial service… remain weak.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation KYIV A major corruption scandal and mounting accusations that the Ukrainian presidency is using the judiciary to intimidate and silence critics has rocked Kyiv, presenting a significant test for Volodymyr Zelensky almost four years into the Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-514234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n