The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO) quoted an episode mentioning President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).
The meeting was broadcast on the HACC YouTube channel.
In particular, a conversation was recorded between the then Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko and businessmen Tymur Mindich and Oleksandr Zukerman.
During the conversation, Halushchenko receives a call from President Zelensky.
"Hi, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych! Hi! Everything is done," says Halushchenko.
Judging by the context of the conversation, the president called Halushchenko after Mindich "dropped the text message" to Zelensky. Zukerman responded:
"You said that no one talks to you about anything. Here it is!"
Halushchenko asked what exactly Mindich wrote to Zelensky. Mindich replied that “Hera [Herman] wants to talk to you.” Halushchenko then asked Mindich how to communicate with the president.
The presidentʼs friend replies: "But listen, with Volodymyr Oleksandrovych... Try something like this: ʼYou understand, I donʼt want to work as a janitor. Iʼll do whatever you say, whatever you need. Iʼm yours.ʼ Say ʼ+ʼ and thatʼs it."
After that, Halushchenko was going to go to Zelensky.
The same conversation was shown on the recording by NABU the day before, but Zelenskyʼs name was not on the video.
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/products delivered or losing their 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 records 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 adviser to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk, and "Tenor" is the executive director for physical protection and security of “Energoatom” Dmytro Basov, who has already been sent under arrest.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, the position held by Herman Halushchenko at the time. He was searched in the case, and on November 12, he was removed from his position as Minister of Justice.
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 owned by the family of the former MP and current Senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.
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