KYIV, Feb 16 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian former energy minister has been detained as a suspect in a high-profile kickback case for crimes such as moneylaundering and participation in criminal activity, anti-graft prosecutors said on Monday, but did not name him.
Ukraine’s previous two energy ministers resigned amid fallout from the so-called “Midas” case, centred on an alleged $100-million kickback scheme at the state atomic agency that ensnared senior officials and business elites, including a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The scandal also claimed the job of Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, and all three have denied wrongdoing.
“We are talking about the former energy minister of Ukraine (2021 to 2025),” special anti-graft prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app. “He is charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation.”
The former minister was detained over the weekend while attempting to leave Ukraine, the prosecutors said.
“During the suspect’s tenure … the criminal organisation received more than $112 million in cash from illegal activities in the energy sector,” Ukraine’s National Anti-corruption Bureau said in a statement.
Materials obtained in Ukraine and through international cooperation with the competent authorities of a number of countries furnished the basis for its conclusion, the bureau added.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)
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