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“They leave me holding the bag.” The UP journalists found Tymur Mindich in Israel. Hereʼs what he said

Author:
Olha Bereziuk
Date:

Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda (UP) found businessman Tymur Mindich in Israel, who appears in NABU and SAPO case on corruption at “Energoatom”.

The journalists published the corresponding video on their YouTube channel.

Journalist Mykhailo Tkach personally spoke with Mindich about the case. Mindich stated that “the media has already leave me holding the bag” and “declared him guilty”. He called the case itself a “steep media attack”.

He confirmed that he was familiar with both former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and had communicated with them. At the same time, he assured that he had "never in my life" given them any instructions.

He called the published conversations taken out of context: "They were shown in the way that is conveniently perceived by society today. There will be more recordings, and we will see what else will be published. I was designated as guilty and today a million things are attributed to me, where not only was I not there, but also about which I do not know at all."

He separately noted that during Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs presidency, he had very little contact with him and the last time they spoke was a long time ago.

While searching for Mindich, the UP film crew was attacked by unknown persons. When Tkach asked the businessman about it, he assured him that his security guards were in no way involved in the attack, and that he only learned about the journalistsʼ arrival in Israel from Telegram channels.

The “Midas” Case

On November 10 and 11, NABU released four parts of the wiretap audio recordings and reported 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:

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 UAH 37 million in bail was posted for Zorina and Ustymenko, and UAH 95 million for Fursenko.

The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, who at the time was Herman Halushchenko. He was searched as part of the case.

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 UAH 51.6 million was paid for him.

On December 1, HACC sent Tymur Mindich into custody in absentia.

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