Ukraine’s corruption crisis continues to deepen, with President Volodymyr Zelensky forced to fire one of his most senior officials after they were suspected of money-laundering. Iryna Mudra was sacked on Wednesday, the day after recently-fired defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov put further pressure on the Ukrainian leader by calling for national elections. While Kyiv has seized the initiative in its war with Russia with an ongoing long-range drone strike campaign, Zelensky continues to be beset by domestic political challenges.
Corruption investigators have not given much away about the ongoing probe, which is working to expose a criminal organization allegedly involving senior officials from the presidential office and others. They stand accused of having laundered 150 million hryvnias (£2.5 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said. Zelensky’s political resilience has been tested several times in the past year.
His former chief of staff was charged with corruption and money laundering in May as Ukraine’s galvanised watchdog pressed on with its widening investigation. The Independent looks at the implications of the ongoing inquiries into alleged Ukrainian corruption. The latest suspects in the corruption case include a former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank’s board and the head of the bank’s supervisory board, the bureau said.
It also involves a deputy head of the presidential office, it added. Zelensky, who has not been personally implicated, has not made any public comment on the investigation. But on Wednesday, he issued a decree dismissing Mudra - who has not been named by investigators - as the deputy head of the Office of the President.
Mudra’s office was searched on Wednesday, lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko said according to The . A source told The Kyiv Independent that the offices member of parliament Vadym Stolar and Maksym Mykytas, a former member of parliament, were also being searched during the probe. Stolar said in a post on Facebook: “I can confirm that the NABU is conducting investigative actions at my home.
I am fully cooperating with the bureau and am not obstructing the work of law enforcement in any way." Officials from Sense Bank that are under investigation are allegedly CEO Oleksiy Stupak and Mykola Hladyshchenko, the outlet reported. Zelensky has been dogged by high-level graft investigations into some of his closest allies. Andriy Yermak, who was until late last year the president’s closest advisor, was accused of laundering some UAH 460 million (£7.73m) through luxury accommodation near Kyiv.
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