The State Bureau of Investigation confirmed that those involved in the “Midas” case came to their office and spoke with employees

During an internal investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) found out that those involved in the large-scale corruption case at “Energoatom” came to the building of the Central Office of the State Bureau of Investigation in Kyiv.

This was stated by representatives of the State Bureau of Investigation at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC) of the Verkhovna Rada on December 10.

Head of the Internal Control Department of the State Bureau of Investigation Bohdan Chobitok noted that the Bureau established the fact that the persons involved in the "Midas" case were in the State Bureau office, as well as the purpose, logic, grounds, and subject of discussion with which they visited the premises.

We also managed to identify the people with whom the suspects communicated. This is the investigative bureau and the head of one of the units.

The investigatorʼs phone, which contained correspondence with a member of a criminal group, was examined. But the SBI says that this was correspondence "of an exclusively working nature" within the framework of another criminal case that this investigator is conducting.

In particular, Ihor Myronyuk, who appears in the NABU investigation as "Rocket", spoke with an investigator for an hour and a half in the lobby of the State Bureau of Investigation. This conversation was not documented by the Bureau.

The video of the visit to the SBI building by the suspects has not been preserved. A representative of the Bureau says that data from the video cameras is only available for 14 days.

Chobitok added that so far, none of the SBI employees with whom the people involved in the “Midas” case communicated have been held accountable or even suspended.

Earlier, the State Bureau of Investigation, based on the results of its internal investigation, stated that no pressure or influence on its employees was recorded in the “Midas” case.

Investigators checked information about bribes received by individual SBI employees for access to data on NABU investigations, pressure on individual officials, and searches ordered by those involved in the case.

SBI has not confirmed the information about the influence on its employees who appear in the “Mindich recordings”. They do not specify who exactly is in question, but the “Mindich recordings” and court hearings regarding the defendants in this case mentioned the possible connection with the SBI of Ihor Myronyuk (“Rocket”).

The “Energoatom” case

On November 10 and 11, NABU released four parts of the wiretap audio recordings and announced a large-scale "Midas" operation 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 and products supplied or losing their supplier status. This practice was called "barrier".

According to NABU, members of the organization systematically received 10-15% as a bribe from “Energoatom” counterparties. Using this scheme, they legalized approximately $100 million through an office owned by the family of former MP and current senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.

Five people were detained in this case, and seven were declared suspects. Their names were later announced by the SAPO prosecutor at court hearings:

• businessman Tymur Mindich, who appeared in NABU recordings as "Carlson" and is considered the organizer of the scheme;
• former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk (“Rocket”);
• Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC NNEGC “Energoatom” Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”);
• four "employees" of the back office for money laundering: Oleksandr Zukerman ("Sugarman"), Ihor Fursenko ("Rioshyk"), Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.

Myronyuk, Basov, Zorina, Fursenko, and Ustymenko have already been sent to custody, and sanctions have been imposed against Mindich and Zukerman. Subsequently, a total of 37 million hryvnias in bail was posted for Zorina and Ustymenko, and 95 million hryvnias for Fursenko.

The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, who at the time was Herman Halushchenko. He was searched in the case, and on November 12 he was removed from his post as Minister of Justice.

The SAPO prosecutor claimed that one of the defendants in the case interviewed Svitlana Hrynchuk, who later replaced Halushchenko as Minister of Energy.

Hrynchuk and Halushchenko were dismissed from their posts as heads of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Justice, and Zelensky removed both ministers from the National Security and Defense Council.

NABU also claims that the participants in the scheme transferred money to former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was suspected of illegal enrichment and sent to custody for two months. The next day, journalists from Schemes, citing sources, reported that a bail of over 51.6 million hryvnias was paid for him.

On December 1, the Supreme Court of Ukraine remanded in custody in absentia Tymur Mindich, who is considered one of the organizers of a corruption scheme in the energy sector.

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