Oleh Pendzin, a member of the Economic Discussion Club, stated this on Espreso TV."If we look closely at the statements of our European partners regarding 'Mindichgate,' the comments there were very cautious. Furthermore, there is even a positive reaction that our anti-corruption bodies have finally started to work. This reaction is due to the fact that the laundered money had no relation to the macro-financial assistance from our partners. This is our problem. We must understand that it was our own money that was laundered. That is, the money of Energoatom. This is the money we pay for electricity, from the tariffs that were increased for us last year. This money went to Energoatom and was laundered there. There was not a single kopeck from our partners," Pendzin explained.The economist stressed that the corruption scandal in the energy sector will certainly not affect the allocation of financial aid to Ukraine from its partners."The Europeans will, of course, remind us of this. I have no doubt about that. However, it is not worth saying that this corruption scandal could significantly impact the process of allocating funds to Ukraine. After all, they are the ones interested in providing us with this assistance. Another issue is that the adoption of the state budget, which is an important condition for continued cooperation with the IMF, will become a vote of confidence in the Svyrydenko government," he added.BackgroundOn November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau reported that an exposed criminal organization had been operating in the energy sector and systematically receiving improper benefits from Energoatom's counterparties—amounting to 10% to 15% of the value of concluded contracts. The scheme was informally named the "barrier.""The National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office are conducting a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector. 15 months of work and 1000 hours of audio recordings. The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented," stated the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.On the same day, Ukrainska Pravda reported: detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau arrived on the morning of November 10 to conduct searches at the premises of Timur Mindich, a co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio and an associate of Zelenskyy. The businessman himself had left the territory of Ukraine shortly before this. Later, searches were conducted at the premises of the Minister of Justice, Herman Halushchenko.Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau also established that the criminal group laundered approximately $100 million in illegally obtained funds. This took place on premises belonging to the former lawmaker and current Russian senator, Andrii Derkach.At the same time, the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Oleksandr Klymenko, created a commission to conduct an internal investigation into a possible data leak in the energy corruption case.Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that government officials must work with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to achieve results in the detectives' investigation into energy corruption.On November 11, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced notices of suspicion to seven individuals in the energy sector corruption case and detained five of the figures involved.