Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has dismissed Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who previously ran the Energy Ministry for four years and is a key figure in a National Anti-Corruption Bureau probe into large-scale graft in the energy sector based on the “Mindich tapes”.
At a November 19 session, 323 lawmakers voted in favor.
Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka, who presented the Cabinet’s position in parliament, said the NABU corruption investigation was sufficient grounds to remove Halushchenko from the government.
Immediately after the vote, parliamentary speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk signed the resolution.
Halushchenko spent years in government under Prime Ministers Denys Shmyhal and later Yuliia Svyrydenko, after moving from his role as vice president at NNEGC Energoatom. Even in that post, he was the subject of multiple investigative reports. After his appointment as minister, scandals involving alleged corruption schemes in the energy system became almost routine.
Halushchenko’s ties to Energoatom run deep. He first joined in 2013 as executive director for legal support, serving roughly a year. His appointment was linked to former Party of Regions lawmaker Andriy Derkach, suspected of treason. That name also appears in the NABU probe - the Derkach family apartment hosted a kind of “laundromat,” an office where members of the criminal organization allegedly legitimized funds.
Notably, it was in central Kyiv, near the SBU’s main directorate.
In 2020, Halushchenko was abruptly named vice president of Energoatom despite lacking experience managing energy companies. Around the same time, Jakob Hartmut was appointed to a similar role (the Cabinet suspended him days ago amid the “Midas” operation).
Both are described in local media as “Derkach’s people,” with the ex-MP continuing to wield influence over Ukraine’s energy sector.
After Halushchenko arrived at Energoatom, the company posted losses for the first time in years and reduced nuclear output, forcing Ukraine to import significant volumes of electricity from Russia and Belarus.
During the same period, Energoatom sold large electricity volumes at discounted prices to companies controlled by oligarchs Rinat Akhmetov and Ihor Kolomoisky - deals that benefited the latter.
In 2023, NABU exposed a 2020 electricity sale scheme involving Kolomoisky’s United Energy that cost the state nearly 100 million hryvnias.
There was also scandal around construction of a centralized storage facility for spent nuclear fuel from NPPs in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.
Halushchenko’s move to the Energy Ministry was linked to another “energy curator,” longtime Zelensky ally Serhiy Shefir. After that, controversies in the energy sector multiplied.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Energy Ministry struggled to restore the power system after repeated strikes, and the scandal peaked when Halushchenko pushed to complete the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant by purchasing Russian-made reactors from Bulgaria.
As energy minister, Halushchenko systematically removed “outsiders” and installed loyalists across state energy firms - even those formally under Cabinet control. Former Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskyi recently alleged such interference. Some of his protégés had ties to Derkach.
NABU has also announced several suspicions targeting Halushchenko’s associates, including Deputy Minister Oleksandr Kheil, detained with a $500,000 bribe; former deputy Maksym Nemchinov over losses at state-run Centrenergo; and Yurii Vlasenko in a case involving the Energy Ministry’s auction of Ukrnafta’s liquefied gas.
Halushchenko was presented for the justice portfolio as a lawyer with international arbitration experience to defend Ukraine’s interests. In practice, he amassed influence over two ministries - Justice and Energy.
Journalists report Timur Mindich has consistently defended Halushchenko to the president, calling him “his only pillar and an honest man in the energy sector.”
On NABU’s recorded tapes, Halushchenko even sought Mindich’s advice on how to speak to Zelensky and what to promise.
Still, despite what many see as an obvious role for Halushchenko, NABU has not yet served him with suspicion.
NABU and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office say they uncovered a sweeping scheme to exert high-level influence over strategic state enterprises, notably Energoatom. Organizers allegedly took 10–15% of contract values as bribes, with “kickbacks” paid by counterparties forced on the company by the scheme’s participants. Investigators say the suspects “laundered” $100 million through a dedicated office in central Kyiv belonging to ex-MP Andriy Derkach’s family - and that Timur “Carlson” Mindich oversaw the laundering.
