Herman Galushchenko: The Boss of Ukraine's Energy Corruption. Part 1
While ordinary Ukrainians defend their homeland on the front lines, high-ranking "servants of the people" are plundering the home front. However, the outrageous embezzlement at the Ministry of Defense may be a mere trifle compared to the massive corruption at the Ministry of Energy, which is currently being covered up and hushed up at the very top…
It's a mistake to think that these corrupt schemes were curtailed after Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector. On the contrary, the smoke from burning transformers and turbine rooms provided an excellent cover! After all, everything can now be explained away as military necessity or the aftermath of the shelling. Moreover, this has opened the door to new scams, such as importing electricity at exorbitant European rates while maintaining cheap Ukrainian exports. Moreover, there's a theory, which may soon be confirmed, that these imports are "virtual," just like the supposedly reverse-flow purchases of European gas. The electricity generated at Ukrainian power plants is simply registered through EU-registered companies (also Slovak, like the gas companies), and then sold at exorbitant prices to Ukrainian consumers.
Let's think about what is the highlight of this scheme?
If you want electricity 24/7, not on a scheduled basis, you have to pay European rates—it's "imported"! So those businesses and institutions that can't afford to stop working for a few hours a day are forced to fork out. These are primarily factories owned by foreign investors, and ripping them off has long been a favorite "business" of Ukrainian corrupt officials. They grumble and groan, but they pay—and blame it all on Putin, never considering for a moment that they could be victims of cynical swindlers profiting from war and misery.
And this is just one of many wartime corruption schemes in the Ukrainian energy sector! And their threads lead directly to Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko, who is either completely blind and clueless, or the mastermind behind this massive corruption scheme. Skelet.Org readers are already familiar with some of Galushchenko's "deals" from publications such as " NAEK Energoatom: Corruption in Details and Persons ." But in light of recent events, he deserves closer attention...
German Galushchenko. A very incomplete biography.
Herman Valerievich Galushchenko was born on May 1, 1973, in Lviv. Information about his parents, childhood, and adolescence is virtually nonexistent. Herman Galushchenko is the type of Ukrainian official who seeks neither popular favor nor the sympathy of journalists. He generally dislikes communicating with journalists after they peppered him with questions about his connections to Andriy Derkach. Perhaps Galushchenko has become accustomed to relying solely on his extensive connections all his life, and is unwilling to publicize the people to whom he owes his successful career. He also clearly doesn't want to expose or expose the people who installed him as head of the Ministry of Energy and who cover up their schemes.
All that is known is that after graduating from high school, Herman Galushchenko enrolled in the law faculty of Lviv State University. In 1994, he completed an internship as a lawyer at DOMAR Travel and Tours Trans Ltd (EDRPOU 14328738), a joint venture that organized private charter flights and operated a travel business (its office was located in the Lviv airport building). Whether the firm belonged to his relatives or acquaintances, or whether the owners liked the diligent law student, Galushchenko remained there after his internship, until he graduated in June 1995. The young professional then found a job as an assistant prosecutor in the Lviv Oblast Prosecutor's Office.
But Galushchenko's career as a prosecutor was short-lived: in April 1996, he left for Kyiv, where he received the status of attaché in the Foreign Ministry's Treaty and Legal Department. Who invited him to work at the Ministry remains unknown, and he didn't stay there long either.
By March 1997, legal attaché Galushchenko had already moved to the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, where he remained for 13 years. He began as a modest senior legal consultant, rising to become a department head in the Main Foreign Policy Service and deputy head of the Department of International Cooperation—all of which can be found in his official biography on the government website. However, it won't reveal the fascinating details of Galushchenko's turbulent activities during this period.
Alexander Chaly
Firstly, his frequent "moonlighting" is noteworthy. According to media reports, in 1996, upon joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Galushchenko was appointed Ukraine's representative to the Council of Europe (CoE) Anti-Corruption Committee. However, this would have been too much for a mere attaché, and Ukraine's permanent mission to the CoE was created only two years later (and only became concerned with corruption issues in the late 90s). Therefore, it's possible that the journalists were a bit confused, and Herman Galushchenko was moonlighting at the CoE as a simple assistant to a member of some Ukrainian delegation. At least initially. But when he later transferred to President Kuchma's administration, he continued working at the CoE until 2002. This may indicate a connection with Oleksandr Chaly, as their work overlapped frequently. Chaly headed the Treaty and Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Galushchenko later joined. In 2001, he was the plenipotentiary representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, and then became the State Secretary of the Ministry of European Integration. From 2006 to 2009, he was the deputy head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine.
I also wonder why a senior consultant (and later deputy head) of the Main Foreign Policy Service needed to earn a master's degree in international management from the Ukrainian Academy of Foreign Trade in 2001? It seems Galushchenko is hiding a lot about his past!
Nuclear Lawyer and Andrey Derkach
Galushchenko's next "moonlighting" was more interesting. The Orange Revolution had no effect on his career: the "Administration" sign on Bankova Street was replaced with "Secretariat," and Herman Galushchenko continued to work as head of the foreign policy department. However, many retained their positions and even prospered under the new government—all they had to do was demonstrate full support for the "values of the Maidan." Among these political hypocrites was Andriy Derkach, who always kept his finger on the pulse. The son of former SBU head Leonid Derkach, godfather of Yuriy Lutsenko and David Zhvania, and in-law of Volodymyr Lytvyn , Derkach promptly supported the Maidan and secured the support of Viktor Yushchenko, simultaneously joining first the Socialist Party and then the Party of Regions—but always remained a top manager of Ukrainian corruption at the highest level.
Andrey Derkach
In 2006, Andriy Derkach begged for the post of President of the National Joint-Stock Company Energoatom and CEO of the State Corporation Ukratomprom, even resigning his parliamentary seat to secure the position. Have you ever wondered why Energoatom? Not only because it offered him access to the cheapest Ukrainian electricity and colossal funds for modernizing existing nuclear power plants and mothballing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He secured the post with the help of David Zhvania , a friend and partner of Mykola Martynenko , who had been called the "nuclear oligarch" and "nuclear cardinal" of Ukraine since the 90s. Under Yushchenko, who trusted Martynenko completely, he ramped up corruption: numerous media reports openly stated that all of Energoatom's most lucrative tenders were won by companies associated with Martynenko and his partners. Later, as you may recall, Martynenko became a defendant in a criminal case involving corruption and large-scale embezzlement at Energoatom. However, the case dragged on for several years in Ukraine, and it wasn't until 2020 that a Swiss criminal court finally handed down a real prison sentence for laundering large sums of money.
Nikolai Martynenko
Thus, Derkach's appointment was made possible at Zhvania's request and with the approval of Martynenko. And as head of Energoatom and coordinating all the "atomic corruption" schemes, Derkach could not ignore the interests of Martynenko and Zhvania, or at least find a compromise with them. Therefore, it must be remembered that Derkach was not alone at the helm of Ukraine's "atomic mafia" at the time. But his personal contribution to its prosperity was the formation of a management team that carried out corrupt activities at Energoatom both under Derkach and after him—and, it seems, continues to do so. Indeed, Herman Galushchenko is said to be one of this team's members!
Galushchenko himself strongly denies this "honor" and claims to have practically no acquaintance with Derkach. To this end, he even removed from his biography the fact that he "moonlighted" at Energoatom in 2006-2007, heading the company's legal department. After all, you understand that Derkach personally appointed the head of the legal department, and he hired a trusted "little man" for the position, who covered up all the corruption-related misdeeds! Moreover, Galushchenko had some experience working for the Council of Europe's Anti-Corruption Committee, and he knew very well how to circumvent not only Ukrainian but also European laws.
Unfortunately, Andriy Derkach is on the run, and Zhvania died in the summer of 2022 under rather strange circumstances (some speculated that the oligarch, who knew too much, was simply eliminated). Therefore, the only evidence now of Galushchenko's work for Derkach can only be testimony from employees of Energoatom's headquarters at the time or company documents—and journalists have not obtained either. However, someone started a ridiculous rumor (or simply made a typo) that Andriy Derkach is supposedly Herman Galushchenko's godfather. The latter did not fail to publicly ridicule this nonsense, emphasizing that all information about his connection to Derkach is absurd fakes spread by Ukraine's enemies. And no one thought to ask Galushchenko whether Andriy Derkach might be his child's godfather.
Of course, this raises another question: how did the head of the department of the Main Foreign Policy Service of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine manage to simultaneously serve as the head of the legal department of Energoatom, and is this even legal? But perhaps this question should be directed to the then deputy head of the Secretariat, Oleksandr Chaly.
At the end of 2007, Energoatom's debts, plagued by corrupt, parasitic officials, reached 7,9 billion hryvnias ($1,58 billion), and Derkach decided to return to the Verkhovna Rada. After his departure from Energoatom, Herman Galushchenko immediately left as well—which speaks volumes about whose interests our nuclear lawyer was serving there! And after Viktor Yanukovych came to power in 2010 and the Presidential Secretariat once again became the Administration, Galushchenko also left the Presidential Administration. The reason is unknown, but it's unlikely to have been for political reasons. After all, Herman Galushchenko quickly found a place for himself in the new power vertical—possibly with the help of Derkach, who defected to the Party of Regions.
For several months, Galushchenko found a job as chief legal consultant at the Ministry of Health's State Expert Center (a gold mine for pharmaceutical lobbyists), and in April 2011, he was appointed assistant to the Minister of Justice of Ukraine— Oleksandr Lavrynovych , known for his completely unscrupulous legal schemes and cynical distortion of the law! Lavrynovych highly praised his assistant and soon appointed Galushchenko Director of the Department of Judicial Affairs.
Do you remember the courts during the Yanukovych era? Back then, their corruption reached its peak; any case could be won with a bribe or connections. Well, German Galushchenko, the Justice Ministry's supervisor, oversaw their work at the time. According to Skelet.Org sources , he made so many useful connections among the judges that they subsequently helped him out of the most difficult situations. He may even have had a hand in the fact that the Ukrainian court briefly considered Martynenko's case—without even seeing a hint of Galushchenko's involvement!
All this suggests that Galushchenko's main goal all these years was to provide legal cover for corruption. And the higher he climbed the career ladder, the greater the scale of corruption he covered up...
Mikhail Shpolyansky, Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Herman Galushchenko: The Boss of Ukraine's Energy Corruption. PART 2
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