Major Corruption Scandal

[sahgwa]

The Neighbourhood Money Laundry of Europe

Since Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine has been flooded with hundreds of billions of dollars of aid, of a much greater value than its yearly economic output. The United States has been unable to accurately account for the billions it has sent there. No country at this point would be able to assure itself that its funds have been spent well.
 To date, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been able to keep Western donors off his back through a sacking here or a prosecution there. What has changed this year is that the erstwhile NABU investigators have been gradually nudging closer to his inner circle.
In July of this year, as the noose was closing around his close ally former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov because of a large-scale property fraud, Zelensky made a failed attempt to hobble NABU and bring it under his personal control. As it turns out, Chernyshov has also been implicated in the current $100m energy scandal, with NABU detectives documenting the transfer of an estimated $1.3 million in cash to him and an associate. On 14 November, NABU sought an order for pre-trial detention of Chernyshov.

Timur Mindich, the man at the centre of the current scandal, is a close ally of Zelensky and co-founded the TV company ‘Kvartal 95’ with him. He was allowed to flee the country before the NABU raids, which discovered duffel bags stuffed with cash and a golden toilet. It hasn’t been lost on some commentators that, in 2014, the ousted President Yanukovych was also alleged to have possessed a toilet made of gold.
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There is a persuasive case to make that ending the war and turning off the gravy train would make it easier for Ukraine’s future leaders to refocus on the path to European membership. This would require real and measurable reform. It’s possibly for this reason that public support for an end to the war continues to grow along with outrage at every new case of graft by cronies close to Zelensky. But it may also help to explain why he is in no hurry to see the war end.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-corruption/

[Orby]

I'm not out to get the Jews, I used to be descended from them and holidayed regular in Israel til I found out I wasn't. I got shot down for listing on ATS the links between tel Aviv and the Zelenskii regime, plus all the other oligarchy that rules Ukrainian industry and business from Tel Aviv. It's just a fact that 1 out of 1000 people worldwide keep on cropping up in a nation where they were all but extinguished from 80 years ago and post 1991. Statistically, it's beyond a coincidence...........................

"Timur Mindich[sup][1][/sup] (Ukrainian: Тімур Михайлович Miндіч, born 19 September 1979) is a Ukrainian-Israeli entrepreneur, film producer and the co-owner of Kvartal 95 Studio.
Early lifeMindich was born on 19 September 1979 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR into a family of Jewish entrepreneurs. His father died in Israel in 2006.[sup][2][/sup]
CareerMindich has produced several films, including Shchurolyov (Rat Catcher) and Ukus volchytsi (Bite of the She-Wolf).[sup][3][/sup]
He is directly associated with the creative association Kvartal 95 Studio and is also linked to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, being a co-owner of the television channel Kvartal TV.[sup][4][/sup]
According to Kolomoyskyi, Mindich is the former fiancé of his daughter and his "business partner in some minor projects, such as development ones".[sup][5][/sup] Mindich is a business partner of Serhiy Shefir (former first assistant to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) in Kvartal 95 LLC and the Cypriot company Green Family Ltd. Green Family Ltd owns Kvartal 95's film business in Russia.[sup][6][/sup]
Personal lifeHe is married to Kateryna Verber, daughter of Alla Verber (d. 2019), who was the fashion director of Moscow's TSUM department store and vice president of the luxury goods company Mercury.[sup][7][/sup] The couple married in 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur_Mindich

[Orby]

They're all corrupt over there in Ukraine's Zelinskyy regime, the whole lot of them.............................. 

"Zelenskyy's chief of staff resigns after home raided in anti-corruption investigation
"Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his chief of staff Andrii Yermak has resigned.
It comes after anti-corruption investigators raided Yermak's home earlier today.
The Ukrainian leader has also announced a reshuffle of his presidential office as a result of Yermak's departure. 
Zelenskyy announced that Yermak had submitted his resignation in a video shared on Telegram."https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-peace-plan-us-trump-russia-moscow-abu-dhabi-war-latest-driscoll-12541713

[Solvedit]

I know starting a thread on UKR corruption is like starting a thread on water being wet, but this is where my tax money is still going against my will. 

Can it be we do have a national interest in preventing the building of empires through military conquest?  It seems much of Europe agrees.

[Halfswede]

We do have to remember though, that Russia were happy to push the corruption narrative to the world, as a way to help with their little operation, even though they'd been behind a large chunk of it from day one.

To be fair, corrupt Ukraine was well before the war.  The EU was refusing entrance for years with the specific reason being they had to clean up their corruption first.  Here's a good look at Ukraine from a neutral source.

Lower number is bad. Higher ranking is bad.  

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2017/index/ukr
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/index/ukr

As you can see, they have been hovering in the 20s and 30s for decades (really bad), and appear to be dropping again. This is why people were hesitant about sending them anything more than food and clothing. 

For comparison, the US is 65, and China is 42, making Ukraine notably more corrupt than the CCP.

To me, Ukraine appears to be Europe's Epstein list.  So many people and countries were involved with the corruption that they owe it at any cost, but they also don't seem capable of keeping it from falling.

[Kurokage]

To be fair, corrupt Ukraine was well before the war.  The EU was refusing entrance for years with the specific reason being they had to clean up their corruption first.  Here's a good look at Ukraine from a neutral source.

Lower number is bad. Higher ranking is bad.  

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2017/index/ukr
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/index/ukr

As you can see, they have been hovering in the 20s and 30s for decades (really bad), and appear to be dropping again. This is why people were hesitant about sending them anything more than food and clothing. 

For comparison, the US is 65, and China is 42, making Ukraine notably more corrupt than the CCP.

To me, Ukraine appears to be Europe's Epstein list.  So many people and countries were involved with the corruption that they owe it at any cost, but they also don't seem capable of keeping it from falling.

The men behind the USSR were the cause of most of the corruption. Then a lot of those became oligarchs taking over facilities, businesses and infrastructure. There does appear to be some who want to eventually clean up it's act.
When that will be, who knows? But that doesn't mean we should just let Putin walk in and take over, that outcome would be even worse for the rest of us.
Putin is only where he is because he's was also part of that old USSR corruption.

[UltraBudgie]

To me, Ukraine appears to be Europe's Epstein list.  So many people and countries were involved with the corruption that they owe it at any cost, but they also don't seem capable of keeping it from falling.

It's a handy place to stash grey-area stuff. For example they also are at the forefront of software and ebook piracy (eg FitGirl repacks and Mobilism), which the West doesn't seem to have a problem with....

It's like admitting "hmm this stuff needs to exist somewhere, but if its domestic that could be a problem, so where can we allow it without condoning it, maybe shaking our fingers but also shrugging our shoulders and ignoring it?"

Perhaps the same with "bioweapon labs"? And porn!

It would be too much of a tell to just do it out of Israel.

[Halfswede]

The men behind the USSR were the cause of most of the corruption. Then a lot of those became oligarchs taking over facilities, businesses and infrastructure. There does appear to be some who want to eventually clean up it's act.
When that will be, who knows? But that doesn't mean we should just let Putin walk in and take over, that outcome would be even worse for the rest of us.
Putin is only where he is because he's was also part of that old USSR corruption.

Of course the USSR people are behind it. Most people in Ukraine are former USSR. That said, they have done very little to fix the problem even with West-emplaced leadership. In fact there is a lot of evidence that the west including the US has had a lot of interest allowing shady stuff to go on and make lots of money doing shady stuff.

Nobody is saying Putin is right. It's a fallacy put forth by different sides that if you say something bad about Ukraine then you are supporting Putin. Two things can be true at the same time. We do it all the time with out own country. The US is corrupt, but that doesn't mean we are anti-US and want them taken over by a foreign entity if we call out US corruption.

[xpert11]

I know starting a thread on UKR corruption is like starting a thread on water being wet, but this is where my tax money is still going against my will. 
So there is that. 

Peace.

The rationale behind U.S. and international assistance to Ukraine lacks any strategic direction. Aside from not defining a desired end state to the war in Ukraine, the forms of aid to that country are ill-thought-out. 

In my view, the only sensible option was to dispatch military equipment to Ukraine to remove Russian forces from that country. If the Ukrainian military didn't use that internationally provided military aid for that purpose, then it ceases.

Drip-feeding money to Ukraine is a lazy and strange idea from politicians who give the war in Ukraine less thought than DI members.

[Orby]

I'm not out to get the Jews, I used to be descended from them and holidayed regular in Israel til I found out I wasn't. I got shot down for listing on ATS the links between tel Aviv and the Zelenskii regime, plus all the other oligarchy that rules Ukrainian industry and business from Tel Aviv. It's just a fact that 1 out of 1000 people worldwide keep on cropping up in a nation where they were all but extinguished from 80 years ago and post 1991. Statistically, it's beyond a coincidence...........................

"Timur Mindich[sup][1][/sup] (Ukrainian: Тімур Михайлович Miндіч, born 19 September 1979) is a Ukrainian-Israeli entrepreneur, film producer and the co-owner of Kvartal 95 Studio.
Early lifeMindich was born on 19 September 1979 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR into a family of Jewish entrepreneurs. His father died in Israel in 2006.[sup][2][/sup]
CareerMindich has produced several films, including Shchurolyov (Rat Catcher) and Ukus volchytsi (Bite of the She-Wolf).[sup][3][/sup]
He is directly associated with the creative association Kvartal 95 Studio and is also linked to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, being a co-owner of the television channel Kvartal TV.[sup][4][/sup]
According to Kolomoyskyi, Mindich is the former fiancé of his daughter and his "business partner in some minor projects, such as development ones".[sup][5][/sup] Mindich is a business partner of Serhiy Shefir (former first assistant to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) in Kvartal 95 LLC and the Cypriot company Green Family Ltd. Green Family Ltd owns Kvartal 95's film business in Russia.[sup][6][/sup]
Personal lifeHe is married to Kateryna Verber, daughter of Alla Verber (d. 2019), who was the fashion director of Moscow's TSUM department store and vice president of the luxury goods company Mercury.[sup][7][/sup] The couple married in 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur_Mindich

Then the two guys having a meeting with Putin yesterday also the 1/1000 people too Kuschner and Witkoff. Pardon me but something smells a little fishy here!