A bail of 95 million hryvnias was set for Ihor Fursenko, a defendant in the “Energoatom” corruption case. He is known as "Rioshyk" in records published by the NABU.
Schemes writes about this with reference to lawyer Petro Boyko and sources among law enforcement officers.
Bail was posted on November 24. Fursenko was released from pretrial detention the next day. He is required to surrender his passports and wear an electronic bracelet.
Investigators call Fursenko the chief accountant of the criminal organization. In NABU recordings, he complained to an interlocutor that it was difficult for him to carry 1.6 million (probably dollars) in a box.
According to Schemes, the money was contributed by the company “Varus Synergy”. Its business is wholesale trade in wood and building materials, and its authorized capital is 100 thousand hryvnias. The company was registered in Mariupol in 2019, and in 2022 its legal address was changed to Kyiv.
The owner of the company is listed as Bohdan Furkevych from Kamyanets-Podilskyi. In the “Getcontact” service, his phone number is listed as “Bohdan Rishalo From Andriy”, “Bohdan Police”, and “Bohdan Military Police Department Kamyanets”. Furkevych did not answer journalists’ calls.
On November 13, it became known that a total of 37 million hryvnias in bail was paid for two women, who are called “back office” workers in the case. Presumably, this is Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
Schemes wrote, citing sources, that this was done by the company “Vangar”. It was created in May of this year, its main activity is “furniture production”, and its authorized capital is 1,000 hryvnias.
Political crisis and corruption investigation 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 ("Ryoshik"), Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
Myronyuk, Basov, Zorina, and Ustymenko were sent into custody, and sanctions were imposed against Mindich and Zukerman.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, who at the time was Herman Halushchenko. He was searched in the case, and on November 12 he was removed from his post as Minister of Justice.
The SAPO prosecutor claimed that one of the defendants in the case interviewed Svitlana Hrynchuk, who later replaced Halushchenko as Minister of Energy.
Both ministers resigned, the government voted to dismiss Hrynchuk and Halushchenko from the posts of heads of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Justice. In addition, 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 2 months. The next day, journalists from Schemes, citing sources, reported that bail was paid for him — over 51.6 million hryvnias.
After these events, President Zelensky and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced an audit of the largest state-owned companies and a large-scale "reset" in energy management.
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