Ukraine’s corruption scandal explained | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to find out more about a story. and why it matters. In today's episode, we're looking at a corruption scandal. which is rocking the Ukrainian. government and which has implicated. allies of President Zalinski. I'm Janet. Jalil and joining me from the Ukrainian. capital Kev is our diplomatic. correspondent James Landell. And James, tell us about this scandal which has now. led to the suspension of Ukraine's. justice minister. >> Yeah, that's right. It is a substantive.

corruption scandal and it one it's one. that goes to the heart of this. government. At its core is the. allegation that senior ministers and. officials and others were involved in a. scheme that essentially took kickbacks. from contracts that were had been agreed. to build fortifications and other. defensive measures to try and protect. the country's energy power plants. primarily the nuclear power plants from. Russian attack. So in other words, substantial infrastructure contracts and.

the allegation is is that in return for. the granting of those contracts, various. members of the government were taking. kickbacks uh from the contractors. Uh in. all, prosecutors say, alleging around. $100 million worth of cash taken out of. the Ukrainian government system as a. result of this uh corruption scandal. So. it's pretty sizable. And and this comes. the suspension of the justice minister. after dozens of raids this week by the.

anti-corruption agency in Ukraine uh. which has seen the publication of photos. of bags of dollar and euro notes. >> Yeah. No, it it's been quite unusual. I'm not sure I've ever seen prosecutors. uh announce their their work quite this. way. You know, they they've had videos. announcing uh what they're doing. They. have released tapes of some of the. evidence they have got providing. transcripts of telephone conversations. between some of those ministers and.

officials that they claim um provides. evidence of of their guilt. Uh they've. as you say provided photographs of some. of the hard cash that they say has been. involved in this. In other words, it. wasn't just you know discrete money. transfers. This was actual cash in bags. being handed from one person uh to. another. They revealed that a lot of the. participants of this alleged scandal had. nicknames for each other, code names. One of them was called Sha Gav Gavara. Another was called Rocket. Another was.

called Carlson after a a famous. Ukrainian uh cartoon character. So, it's. it's been it's been quite colorful. >> Colorful and shocking. What's the. reaction been in Ukraine to this given. that so many people there are suffering. lengthy blackouts because of the Russian. missile and drone attacks on energy. plants? >> Yeah, I think there's been a lot of. anger certainly on social media and uh. from politicians beginning to give voice. to that as well simply because as you.

say Ukraine is going through a hard time. at the moment. The Russians are. deliberately targeting Ukrainian energy, not just the power stations, but also. the transmission networks, particularly. in the east. And a lot of people say to. me that what Russia is trying to do is. is basically cut off eastern Ukraine. from energy. So that that part of the. economy goes black. People are living in. the cold. They can't buy a bakery in the. morning for their breakfast because the. the bakery ovens aren't working. they.

can't go to work because their office. doesn't have any power. Uh and in that. context, if you have these allegations. that senior members of the government. are taking, you know, kickbacks and. creaming off government funds for. contracts that are designed to protect. the uh the the creation of energy in. this country. uh that is something that. has an incredibly toxic potential in. terms of government trust which is why I. think the government is acting at the. moment or desperately trying to give the.

impression at the moment that it is. acting swiftly uh and effectively by uh. as you say uh suspending uh the justice. minister uh and others who are being. prosecuted as a result of these. allegations. What do you think the. impact of this has been on President. Zalinski himself given that earlier this. year the Ukrainian authorities tried to. bring the anti-corruption agencies under. the president's control? >> I think this is going to be a real test. for President Silinski because as you. say uh earlier this year there was this.

attempt by the government to take some. of the powers away from the. anti-corruption prosecutors. That was. considered shocking by many people here. It caused a lot of concern, I can tell. you, amongst allied governments who. support Ukraine who just said that we. think this is is the wrong thing to do. and it provoked demonstrations out here. in on the streets of Kiev and elsewhere. The government did backtrack uh and that. since then people have, you know, if you. talk to ministers about it, they say, look, you know, that it showed, you.

know, a mistake was made, a correction. happened. That's what happens in normal. governments. uh but it meant that there. was a certain caution I think amongst. many of the electorate here in Ukraine. just keeping an eye on precisely what's. going on. Now the sort of the optimistic. view today says what's happened. demonstrates that what president Zenzi. has done um is working that democracy is. is is turn the wheel of democracy is. turning people who are accused of uh. corruption have been accused of that and.

there'll be a legal judicial process. Now others say actually what this shows. is that you know corruption is still. pretty endemic in this administration. and the fact that uh one of the key. characters who has been accused of this. corruption is somebody who is incredibly. close to President Zilinski t mentioned. who is uh somebody who is the co-owner. of the production company that made. President Zalinski's. television shows before he became a. politician when he was a a comedian. Uh.

this is a man at the heart of these. allegations. He we understand has fled. the country. So this comes very close to. President Zilinski and that's why he's. put out a statement saying uh very. explicitly you know this is justifying. why the justice minister uh has left his. post saying this is a matter of trust. If there are accusations they must be. answered. The decision to remove them. from office is prompt and the fastest. So, in other words, President Zilinski. is trying to send a message to people. here that he's acting.

>> And he's also trying to send a message. to international allies in in the West. at a time when Ukraine is asking for. billions of dollars to support it in its. war against Russia. >> Yeah, this is absolutely crucial. I. mean, on one hand, you know, Ukraine is. under a lot of pressure from its. European allies in particular to crack. down on corruption. It's a very specific. part of Ukraine's attempt to join the. European Union. Last week there was a uh. a report by the European Union giving a. sort of an annual assessment, an annual.

stock take of Ukraine's uh passage. towards EU membership and it was pretty. positive except for corruption. It said. that the language there was pretty tough. and saying that Ukraine had to do more. and it wasn't there was a risk of of it. backsliding and had to take decisive. action. I think uh as I say people will. say you know this scandal shows that. Ukraine is acting um but I think there. will be concern amongst some allies uh. that there is a potential that this. damages uh investment in Ukraine that.

some people out there might think hang. on a minute am I going to invest in this. country while it's at war and while. corruption hasn't been tackled because. they're not going to give lots of cash. if they think it's going to be creamed. off by government officials. Thanks, James. And you can hear more of that. interview and many more stories on the. Global News podcast. Just listen. wherever you download your podcasts. And. if you like this episode, please. subscribe to us here on YouTube. And if. you'd like us to cover any other story,

please leave a comment in the comment. section.