Ukrainian anti-graft prosecutors said on Feb. 16 that a former energy minister has been charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organization as part of a high-profile corruption probe.
The minister was arrested as part of the so-called Midas case, which centers on an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at Ukraine’s state atomic agency.
In a Feb. 16 post on Telegram, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) stated that the arrest “concerns the former Minister of Energy of Ukraine (2021–2025). He is charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organization.”
The anti-corruption bodies stated that the former minister was arrested while crossing the border but did not identify the minister by name. Herman Halushchenko served as energy minister from 2021 to 2025 and then briefly as justice minister until he resigned last year.
“According to the investigation, in February 2021, on the island of Anguilla (a self-governing overseas territory of the UK), at the initiative of participants in a criminal organization exposed by NABU and SAPO in November 2025, a fund was registered that was supposed to attract about $100 million in ‘investments,’” they stated.
Authorities said more than $7 million had been transferred to foreign accounts, naming the minister’s wife and four children as beneficiaries. Some of the money was spent on educating their children at elite schools in Switzerland, and some was placed in “a deposit, from which the family of the high-ranking official received additional income and spent it on their own needs,” according to NABU.
In November 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the dismissal of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers, saying he supported anti-graft agencies in their investigation into energy sector corruption.
“First of all, there should be maximum transparency in the energy sector, in all processes absolutely,” Zelenskyy said in a Nov. 12, 2025, video address. “It is very difficult for everyone in Ukraine now. It is absolutely abnormal that there are still some schemes in the energy sector.”
Halushchenko resigned as justice minister the following day.
The case sparked public outrage as millions of Ukrainians face rolling blackouts and heating shortages in the winter because of Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukraine’s energy sites.
Corruption is also an impediment to Ukraine joining the European Union, which has stringent rules on the issue.
A spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in November 2025 that his government was concerned by the reports of corruption in Ukraine, noting that they involve “a sector that receives considerable support from Germany.”
In December 2025, the EU and Ukraine agreed on an action plan to tackle corruption and strengthen democratic institutions in the country in an effort to smooth its path to EU membership.
Kyiv has committed to prioritizing these goals in the next year by “expanding the jurisdiction” of Ukraine’s two anti-corruption bodies, NABU and SAPO, according to Kos.
Also included are reforms to the judiciary, the prosecutor’s offices, and the State Bureau of Investigation, as well as measures to strengthen internal systems that prevent high-level corruption.
