The “Forrest Gump” case. Former deputy head of the Presidentʼs Office Mudra was wiretapped 10 months before a case was registered against her

Former deputy head of the Presidentʼs Office Iryna Mudra began to be wiretapped 10 months before investigators registered the "Forrest Gump" case — about the legalization of UAH 150 million to pay bail for former Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko.

This was reported by Mudraʼs lawyer Artem Krykun-Trush at a meeting of the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

They began "listening" to Mudra on May 13, 2025, and according to investigators, she joined the criminal organization no later than October 2025.

Operational-search case No. 408, which would have allowed the former deputy head of the Presidentʼs Office to be wiretapped, was opened back in August 2024, and permission was received only on April 23, 2025.

The “Forrest Gump” Case

Iryna Mudra is one of the figures in the "Forrest Gump" operation to legalize 150 million hryvnias to pay bail for one of the figures 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.

Among the other suspects:

• former MP Maksym Mykytas;
• current MP Vadym Stolar;
• Deputy Minister of Justice Olena Ferens;
• 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 Snigur;
• people associated with Mykytas are Valentyn Elizarov, Yehor Merkulov, Oleksandr Ostapenko, and Mykyta Tarkovsky.

Three of them have already been given preventive measures — detention or bail: Mykytas — UAH 30 million, his "right-hand man" Yelizarov — UAH 20 million, and Viktor Dubovyk, the head of the Directorate for Legal Affairs of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office, — UAH 7 million (bail has already been paid for him).

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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