The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has declared a new suspicion in the “Forrest Gump” and “Femida” cases regarding the legalization of money pledged to former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
This was reported on the NABU website.
The department did not name the suspect, but indicated that he is a businessman and a former deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council of the 7th convocation. He was recruited to take advantage of informal connections and influence in the judicial sphere. Presumably, this is Vasyl Astion.
In particular, he influenced judges of commercial courts to make decisions in favor of companies and people associated with the criminal organization. He also participated in the raider seizure of two enterprises. The value of their assets was UAH 248 million.
In addition, the businessman helped legalize illegally obtained funds. They were planned to be used as collateral for one of the participants in another criminal organization in the "Midas" case.
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;
- 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 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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