Midas scheme siphoned money not only from the energy sector but from other areas as well
Semen Kryvonos commented on the continuation of Operation Midas (Photo: REUTERS/Yurii Kovalenko)
National Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Semen Kryvonos said that funds siphoned off through the Midas operation came not only from the energy sector but from other areas as well, adding that new suspects will soon be named. He made the remarks at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada’s Anti-Corruption Policy Committee on Nov. 25
“We are now moving into what is known as the public phase — notifying members of the criminal organization of suspicion. A pretrial investigation is underway, focused on a financial probe of the crime, meaning the tracking of all transactions and obtaining the necessary documents that confirm the origin of the funds, their subsequent laundering, and their conversion into valuable assets, including assets abroad,” Kryvonos said.
He added that “despite all obstacles,” the searches conducted at the suspects’ locations were productive. According to him, the anti-corruption agencies have “thousands of hours of recordings” at their disposal.
“We managed to seize a large number of digital storage devices, flash drives, computer equipment and mobile phones,” he said.
The NABU director told Interfax-Ukraine that investigators are now comparing the dates of conversations with the dates of transactions.
“Funds were coming not only from the energy sector, but energy was the priority because it is the most ‘opaque’ at the moment in terms of regulation, considering the ‘barrier’ scheme that existed and the absence of a supervisory board at Energoatom… But there are inflows of these funds from other sectors as well,” he said.
Earlier, NABU detective Oleksandr Abakumov said a back office linked to Ukrainian businessman Tymur Mindich contained a trove of 527 records with restricted personal data on NABU detectives, lawmakers, officials, journalists and law enforcement officers.
A source in the anti-corruption agencies told NV that NABU has paused the release of new information in the Midas case due to issues related to martial law. NABU’s press service said it would not comment on the matter for now.
Operation Midas
On Nov. 10, NABU detectives carried out searches targeting businessman Tymur Mindich, former energy minister and current justice minister Herman Halushchenko, and the company Energoatom. Mindich left Ukraine a few hours earlier.
NABU said detectives, as part of Operation Midas, documented the activities of a “high-level criminal organization” led by a “media-famous businessman.” The group built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence Energoatom and demanded kickbacks of 10–15% of contract values from the company’s contractors.
Five suspects were detained and placed in custody with bail options. They include former energy minister’s adviser Ihor Myroniuk, Energoatom’s executive director for security Dmytro Basov, and employees of the “back office” where, investigators say, funds were laundered.
On Nov. 13, journalist Oleh Novikov reported that bail had been posted for two female suspects — Lesia Ustymenko and Liudmyla Zorina.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said all those guilty must receive sentences. He also imposed sanctions on Mindich and Oleksandr Zukerman as Israeli citizens.
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