The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has long faced difficulties in tracking funds related to defense procurement.
NABU head Semen Kryvonos said this at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission on Economic Security.
According to him, since February 2025, the Bureauʼs detectives have been sending requests to the State Financial Monitoring Service regarding the movement of funds and suspicious transactions.
However, as Kryvonos noted, the State Financial Monitoring Service does not respond to requests.
"We will send many more such requests. They will concern individual defendants: the ʼCarlsonʼ, the ʼSugarmenʼ and other members of the criminal organization, some of whom have not yet been identified," said the NABU director.
He emphasized that the role of financial monitoring should currently be "determinative and leading".
Operation “Midas” — investigation into corruption in the energy sector
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:
- businessman Tymur Mindich, who appeared in NABU records 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 UAH 37 million in bail was posted for Zorina and Ustymenko.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, who at the time was Herman Halushchenko. He was searched in the case, was removed from his post as Minister of Justice on November 12, and later resigned.
The current Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk, who is linked to Tymur Mindich, has also resigned. Zelensky has already removed Hrynchuk and Halushchenko from the National Security and Defense Council. This week, the Verkhovna Rada will vote on their resignation from ministerial positions.
NABU also claims that the participants in the scheme transferred money to the former Deputy Prime Minister. Presumably, this is Oleksiy Chernyshov, who has already been charged with illegal enrichment.
President Zelensky and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko reported an audit of the largest state-owned companies and a large-scale "reset" in energy management.
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