“Oleksandr Abakumov said that during the investigation of this case, detectives “in different situations” recorded four Cabinet ministers”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“These are funds that were found directly from members of a criminal organization, which have been seized at this stage. We have already conducted many searches, some of them are ongoing. Funds are still being withdrawn from some. Now we see there already more than 4 million dollars (removed). If I’m not mistaken, we visited the residences of various members of the criminal organization,” said the representative of the bureau.
According to him, these are “working capital of a criminal organization to be issued according to the instructions of the leaders of this group of people.”
Oleksandr Abakumov said that during the investigation of this case, detectives “in different situations” recorded four Cabinet ministers.
“I won’t say much, but I will say that in various situations during the investigation of this criminal case, we recorded four ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers,” he said, noting that their actions are currently being evaluated regarding the sufficiency of the evidence.
The NABU representative clarified that it is about officials from different periods, that is, it is not all four current ministers.
He stated that at the moment there are two leaders of the criminal organization under investigation, but the detective did not specify their names and refused to comment on whether Timur Mindich was one of the leaders.
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On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine reported on conducting a “large-scale operation” to expose corruption in the energy sector.
NABU stated that the activities of a “high-level criminal organization” were documented, more than 70 searches were conducted, in which all detectives of the bureau were involved. These investigative actions took place, in particular, in the office of Energoatom, which stated that it fully cooperates with the investigative authorities.
According to NABU, the main activity of the criminal organization was the systematic obtaining of illegal benefits from the contractors of “Energoatom” in the amount of 10% to 15% of the value of the contracts.
NABU claims that the head of the criminal organization involved the former deputy head of the State Property Fund, who later became an adviser to the Minister of Energy, as well as a former law enforcement officer who held the position of executive director of the company’s physical protection and security to implement the scheme. At the same time, the bureau does not specify who headed this criminal organization.
It was also reported that NABU detectives searched Timur Mindich, a businessman and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, and Herman Galushchenko, the former Minister of Energy. Officially, the law enforcement officers did not confirm this, but, according to the media, both Galushchenko and Mindich are involved in the case regarding the corruption scheme in the field of energy and defense, which was reported by NABU on November 10. Both did not publicly respond to this case.
On November 10, the Verkhovna Rada registered draft resolutions on the dismissal of Herman Galushchenko from the post of Minister of Justice of Ukraine, as well as Minister of Energy Svitlana Grynchuk.
After that, Grynchuk said that she will not react now, because she “does not understand the claims.”