SAPO: Those involved in the “Forrest Gump” case discussed how to clean phones and look for wiretaps

At the court session where the measure of restraint was chosen for former the deputy head of the Presidential Office Iryna Mudra, the SAPO prosecutor played excerpts of her conversations with former MP Maksym Mykytas. They discuss conspiracy, and Mudrya complains that she cannot find out the details of the investigation against her.

The meeting was broadcast by the HACC press service.

One of the conversations discussed Mudraʼs alleged connections with State Border Guard officials. The SAPO prosecutor cites this fragment as an argument for sending Mudra to pre-trial detention.

In addition, from the wiretaps released, it becomes clear that the defendants destroyed information on phones and documents related to the case, used foreign numbers, as well as various messengers, in particular Threema.

"Rip it, rip! Hide it somewhere, I donʼt know. Rip it and throw it out the window. And ʼThreemaʼ needs to be deleted and reinstalled," says Mykytas to Mudra in one of the conversations.

The prosecutor also reads the following conversation between the defendants:

• Mudra: How else can you check the CISA? Vitya will check the addresses now.
• Mykytas: Well, I ripped it what you told me to rip. Take care of yourself and God will take care of you.
• Mudra: And we wonʼt buy a new phone? Weʼll wait for the 18th model [iPhone] to be released?

In another conversation, Mykytas is worried that his apartment might be bugged. He says he plans to order a service to have his apartment checked.

The prosecutor also read the wiretap report, where Mudra complains about the work of the NABU and the SAPO.

"Do you see what these two bodies [NABU and SAPO] have turned into? Damn, weʼre shocked, weʼre just scared [of them]. It was impossible to find out. In SBI or in the National Police, you can find out whatʼs going on there, but here you just canʼt […]. And you donʼt understand when theyʼll make it public," the prosecutor quoted Mudraʼs message to Mykytas.

At the meeting, two people stated that they wanted to take Mudra on bail — the chief rabbi of Kyiv Binyamin Yonatan Markovych and military man Serhiy Kovalenko.

Operation “Forrest Gump”

On August 19, NABU and SAPO reported that they had uncovered a criminal scheme that organized the legalization of UAH 150 million to pay bail for one of the defendants in the Midas case, former Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko.

According to the investigation, in early June, the participants in the scheme gained actual control over Sense Bank and began using it to launder money. They were informed of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — legalization of money obtained by criminal means.

On the first day of the court session, the SAPO prosecutor named all the defendants in this case, including:

• former Deputy Head of the Presidentʼs Office Iryna Mudra;
• former MP Maksym Mykytas;
• current MP Vadym Stolar;
• the deputy Minister of Justice Olena Ferens;
• the Director General of the Directorate for Legal Policy of the Public Prosecutorʼs Office Viktor Dubovyk;
• businessman and former deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council Vasyl Astion;
• former chairmen of the supervisory board and management board of the state-owned Sense Bank Mykola Hladyshenko and Oleh Stupak;
• the head of the department of the state-owned Sense Bank Lyudmila Snihur;
• according to the prosecutor, the people connected with Mykytas are Valentyn Yelizarov, Yehor Merkulov, Oleksandr Ostapenko, and Mykyta Tarkovsky.

In addition, on August 20, NABU and SAPO presented a continuation of this case — Operation “Femida” with the same defendants. As investigators established, with the help of hackers, the defendants hacked into state registers, forged documents, and used "their" people in the Commercial Court and the Ministry of Justice to seize enterprises and real estate.

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