“NABU Director Semen Kryvonos stated that he could neither confirm nor deny the possible involvement of the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak in the Midas case.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Kryvonos during the broadcast of the program UP.Chat
Details: The director of NABU was asked whether the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak or a person with the pseudonym “head of the OP” appear in the “Midas” investigation.
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Direct speech: “I can neither confirm nor deny. Because, well… we don’t confirm or deny such things.”
Details: Also, journalist Mykhailo Tkach asked Kryvonos if Timur Mindich (kthe first name that appears on the audio recordings “Carlson”) is the “top” of the criminal scheme and whether they are checking the possible participation of other persons, in particular high-ranking officials.
Kryvonos said that in the pre-trial investigation “Karlson” has the status of a co-organizer of a criminal organization. He emphasized that society should trust the professional work of NABU detectives and SAP prosecutors, not to be manipulated by information and wait for the official results.
According to him, the first stage of the operation is currently underway – the transition from the unspoken to the overt stage, during which searches and detentions took place. The next step will be the financial phase of the investigation, which should establish the full flow of funds.
Krivonos explained that numerous transactions took place in the “back office”, and now detectives are monitoring the movement of money through state and private banks, as well as their transfers abroad. According to NABU, those involved often used cryptocurrency, which greatly complicates the analysis.
For this stage, the investigation needs the help of foreign law enforcement officers – possibly through the creation of joint investigative teams. According to him, an important role is played by State Financial Monitoring, which should track all suspicious transactions and interaction with foreign jurisdictions.
Kryvonos confirmed that during the documentation, the movement of approximately 100 million dollars through the office was established.
Direct speech of Kryvonos: “It could be a lot more. That’s what we’ve established operationally. Now the financial investigation may show a different picture.”
Details: According to him, the analysis of the seized documents and the movement of funds should show where exactly the money was directed, whether it was converted into real estate or other assets, and in which jurisdictions it could have remained.
“This is difficult, painstaking investigative work that still needs to be done,” Kryvonos concluded.
Read also: From the minister to the “watchers”: how the Energoatom embezzlement scheme worked and who is behind it
Zelensky’s “Svynarchuks”. How the president’s friends robbed the country during the war
“How and by whom was the special operation to destroy the independence of NABU and SAP implemented?“
Prehistory:
- On the morning of November 10, it became known that NABU was conducting searches of businessman Timur Mindich and Minister of Justice Herman Galushchenko (as of November 12, Galushchenko was suspended from position). At the same time, UP sources reported that Mindich had fled abroad a few hours before the searches.
- On the same day, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine reported that it had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme for the embezzlement of funds in the energy sector, as well as made public audio recordings of the negotiations of the participants in this case. Before that, UP sources reported that NABU conducts searches of businessman Timur Mindich and at the Minister of Justice Herman Galushchenko. The interlocutors of the UP also noted that Mindich fled abroad a few hours before the search.
- On November 11, journalists revealed the names of all those involved in the investigation of mass corruption at Energoatom, who received suspicion from NABU. According to the “Schemes” project, Timur Mindich (who is called “Carlson” in the NABU audio recordings – ed.), ex-adviser to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk (“Rocket”), Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”), executive director of security at “Energoatom”, Oleksandr Zukermana (“Sugarman”), Ihor Fursenko (“Ryoshik”), Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina received suspicions.
- Five persons from the list of suspects have been detained. Two of them – Mindich and Zukerman – left Ukraine.
- Basova, Myronyuk, Fursenko, Ustymenko and Zorinii chose precautionary measures with the possibility of bail. Later, it became known that the High Anti-Corruption Court received bail for the money-laundering “back-office” workers around Energoatom, Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
- On November 12, Minister of Justice Herman Galushchenko was removed from his post after a high-profile NABU investigation into corruption at Energoatom NAEC.
- On November 13, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against the businessman, co-owner of the studio “Kvartal-95” and his associate Timur Mindich and businessman Oleksandr Zukerman.