Operation Forrest Gump: Anti-corruption raid heaps pressure on Zelenskyy
Ukraine's president fires a top aide after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau alleged a group of top officials laundered money to pay a former minister’s bail.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Iryna Mudra as deputy head of his office on Wednesday, following a search by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) as part of a new operation dubbed Operation Forrest Gump. The operation was launched to investigate an alleged criminal organization involving current and former lawmakers, senior officials, and Zelenskyy's office.
The NABU claimed the group laundered approximately 150 million Ukrainian hryvnia, roughly $3 million, through the state-owned Sense Bank to finance bail for German Galushchenko, a central figure in the 2022 $100 million Midas corruption scandal. While NABU did not directly name Mudra, they searched her office and released a recording of a woman identified only as a deputy head of the president's administration, allegedly saying, "Fighting corruption is a wrong approach… Corruption has to be systemized and controlled." Mudra did not comment when asked by POLITICO.
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