Schemes project: Mindich left Ukraine in a “VIP taxi” the night before the NABU searches

Businessman Tymur Mindich, suspected of organizing a corruption scheme in the energy sector, used the services of a "VIP taxi" and left Ukraine a few hours before the searches in his apartment.

This is discussed in the material of the Schemes project.

According to law enforcement sources, Mindich crossed the border at 2:09 a.m. on November 10, a few hours before the investigative actions in his apartment as part of Operation Midas.

Journalists found out that the businessman used the Lviv premium transportation service "TimeLux" for this.

According to Schemes, Mindich left in a Mercedes-Benz S 350, which belongs to one of the owners of this service Maksym Vovk. Another businessman and co-owner of the VIP transfer Eldar Asadulayev, previously worked in the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Schemes contacted Lviv businessmen. During a conversation with journalists, Maksym Vovk stated that his company does not check passengersʼ documents. According to him, this is done by the relevant state bodies when crossing the border.

When asked if he knew Mindich, Vovk replied: “Thank God, no.”

And his business partner Eldar Asadulayev only briefly replied: “This is the first time I’ve heard of him,” and hung up.

The “Energoatom” case

On the morning of November 10, NABU reported a large-scale operation "Midas" to expose corruption in the energy sector.

According to the bureau, “Energoatom” counterparties were forced to pay kickbacks in order to avoid blocking payments for services provided and products delivered or being stripped of supplier status. This practice was called barrier".

Five people were detained in this case, and seven were declared suspects. These are:

• a businessman — the head of a criminal organization, who appeared in NABU recordings as "Carlson";
• former advisor to the Minister of Energy — "Rocket";
• Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC NNEGC “Energoatom” — "Tenor";
• four "employees" of the back office for money laundering.

NABU does not name any of the defendants, but the MP from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak claims that "Carlson" is Tymur Mindich, who is called a friend of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and one of the co-owners of the company "Studio Kvartal-95".

According to Zheleznyak, "Rocket" is the former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk, and "Tenor" is the executive director for physical protection and security of “Energoatom” Dmytro Basov.

The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, a position held at the time by Herman Halushchenko, the current Minister of Justice of Ukraine. He was searched as part of the case.

NABU also claims that the participants in the scheme transferred money to the former Deputy Prime Minister. Presumably, this is Oleksiy Chernyshov. He has already been charged with illegal enrichment.

According to NABU, in the case of corruption in the energy sector, the defendants legalized approximately $100 million through an office belonging to the family of former MP and current Senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.

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