Ukraine investigates ex-senior presidential aide over embezzlement

By Dan Peleschuk

Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities accused a former senior aide in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office on Wednesday of helping embezzle more than $3 million through a green energy scheme.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said it had identified nine suspects who had claimed government payments for solar power produced in the now-occupied parts of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

They include an ex-deputy head of Zelenskiy's office, NABU said without naming them. Ukrainian authorities are not allowed to disclose the identity of suspects.

Zelenskiy's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukraine's anti-graft police have stepped up a wartime campaign that has ensnared senior officials and fuelled public anger at lingering high-level corruption in Ukraine.

NABU and anti-corruption prosecutors shocked Ukrainians last November by announcing details of an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector involving a former Zelenskiy associate.

Weeks after that investigation was unveiled, Zelenskiy dismissed his chief of staff and announced an overhaul of his administration.

Zelenskiy has said he will not tolerate corruption.