Volodymyr Fesenko: Mindich lost the favor of the president due to betrayal of trust.

Photo: NABU

NABU discovered a corrupt scheme of embezzlement of resources of the state firm Energoatom, the participants of which belonged to the closest circle of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Among the persons appearing in the case are the president’s companion from “Kvartal 95” Timur Mindich, who is considered the organizer of this scam, and the former Minister of Energy, the current Minister of Justice Herman Galushchenko. Why did they draw attention to the entourage of the head of state and what political consequences will this have, journalist Briefly about found out in Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Center for Applied Political Research “Penta”..

A lot of noise, but no arrests – Who is behind “Mindic’s case”, given that he was in the circle of the president?

– In theory, Mindich as an entrepreneur who had his own business, in particular and controlled some enterprises from Kolomoisky’s past empire, could certainly provide funds to ensure the financing of the presidential team’s political projects. However, this did not give him guarantees of inviolability. He could assume that now no one would ever touch him, so, as they say, he “lost his sense of reality.” That is, he was destroyed by insatiability and a sense of permissiveness. There have been illegal actions at Energoatom before, but this time they exceeded the previous ones. And as a result, this scandal became public. I would say that Mindich betrayed the trust of the President and the Office of the President.

And this is a very unpleasant surprise for Zelensky, because he is under the crosshairs, and the president should expect negative consequences for his reputation. But this is not the first time for Zelensky that people close to him actually betray him.

– In your opinion, will this case be closed “quietly” or will it be brought to an end?

– Here I want to emphasize that there is a lot of publicity in this case, but so far there are not only no arrests, but no even announced suspicions, in the legal sense. This is surprising. Usually, if searches take place, suspicions appear almost immediately or the next day. And here – no. There is a huge media effect and resonance, but there are no legal consequences yet. (The conversation took place in the morning, and in the afternoon, NABU announced that it had served suspicion on seven persons in the case of corruption in Energoatom. – Ed.), but we can undoubtedly say that the “Energoatom case” will drag on for a long time, especially in the judicial aspect.

I will only pay attention to one detail. In this case, there are recordings of the suspects’ conversations. However, NABU does not have the authority to make such records. They can record telephone conversations only with the technical assistance of the SBU and with the permission of the court. If this was not the case, all these records are invalid evidence. That is, for the public it is interesting, it evokes emotions, but legally it is worthless. Therefore, the case may be lost in court.

In addition, the case can be delayed for a long time. As was the case with Nasirov, which was considered in the courts for 8 years. That is, it is the most effective way of leveling risks for reputation.

– Is this a single blow against Zelenskyi’s “shadow” team or a larger process?

– I would be very careful with the use of the term “shadow team” now. After all, the term “Zelenskyi’s team”, and even more so “shadow”, is very relative. There is the President’s Office, and this is the closest entourage of the President – Yermak, Lytvyn, and several other people. He himself calls them his team.

The “Servants of the People” faction is a very conditional team of Zelensky. Politically, they are allegedly loyal to the president, but nothing more. Even such persons as the leader of the “Servants” faction Davyd Arakhamiya or the speaker of the parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk are not part of Zelensky’s closest circle. Likewise, Mindich, despite the fact that he was one of the donors of the presidential team, did not belong to the close circle. And even more so, he cannot be called a member of the “shadow team”, it will not be quite right.

Therefore, here the risk for Zelensky is most likely a potential one. This is not the risk of a political crisis today… If suddenly some data appears that Zelensky himself is involved in this. Could political opponents of Zelensky have such data. I assume that the so-called “Mindic tapes” can be saved for the elections already after the war.

Timur Mindich managed to leave the country before the NABU and SAP searches. Photo: from open sources

Zelensky excluded Mindich from his entourage – That is, Mindich can become for Zelensky what the Svynarchuks became for Poroshenko before the presidential elections?

– Yes, this is the closest and most apt analogy. The Svynarchuks really seriously reduced Poroshenko’s ratings before the elections.

– And why did Zelensky publicly support NABU in this case, despite the fact that in the summer he tried to limit the authority of this body?

– Because after this story with the reduction of NABU’s powers, Zelensky himself and the President’s Office realized that it is impossible to act openly with anti-corruption bodies. This will cause only negative consequences both within the country and in relations with international partners. Therefore, the fact that Zelenskyi supported NABU’s actions in the fight against corruption in Energoatom is absolutely correct from a tactical and politico-technological point of view, and this is exactly how it should be done.

– How can the opposition use the “Mindic case” to its advantage?

– Of course, this situation will periodically be used against President Zelenskyi. Then the topic of Herman Galushchenko’s resignation from the post of Minister of Justice will appear. It may be to raise some kind of suspicion against him, or he may leave on his own. In his place and in the place of the presidential team, it would be better for him to leave himself. It would not be immediate, so as not to look like a concession to the opposition, but the best way to get rid of him is so that he is not such a toxic irritant in the government. However, the subject of Galushchenko will undoubtedly become a reason for criticism of the president in particular.

– After all, did Mindich cross the line, or is President Zelenskyi “purifying” his surroundings like this, or is this a larger-scale process?

– Yes, after all this history, he will need to “cleanse” his environment. I believe that after this situation, Mindich will lose contact with the president, because this is a blow to him. Everything will be as it was with the ex-head of the SBU Ivan Bakanov at Zelenskyi. Bakanov was his closest friend since childhood, but when Bakanov got into a scandal, Zelensky made a very difficult decision for himself and removed Bakanov not only from his position, but also from his life.

In the so-called in the “films of Mindich” he himself went by the nickname “Carlson”. NABU screen

Western partners will perceive the “Mindic case” as an active fight against corruption in Ukraine – How will this affect the internal cohesion of “Servants”, because the president has started to surrender his own?

– And there, I mean in the faction, there is no cohesion. There was a short period when they did not know each other, when they were completely devoted to the president. The first month was a “turbo regime”, and then gradually stratification began and groups of influence began to appear – some under Kolomoisky, some under Akhmetov – for whom there is simply no concept – “surrender their own”.

And even in the faction, few people considered Mindich “theirs.” Therefore, I do not think that anyone in the “Servants of the People” faction will fight for him. I think that many “servants” were not happy with Galushchenko and were even glad that this happened.

– It is known that Mindich had certain relations with Kolomoiskyi. Maybe because of this he was caught?

– Hardly, Mindich was a partner of Kolomoisky a long time ago, even before the election of Zelensky, and he was only a junior partner. Apparently, he took over a part of Kolomoisky’s business that was left unattended. But this investigation is definitely not related to Kolomoiskyi. At least, according to external signs, according to the information that appears, I do not see any connection with Kolomoisky.

– How will this scandal affect Ukraine’s position in the international arena?

– Well, this is not the first scandal related to money laundering. Let me remind you that we had an offshore scandal under Poroshenko, and then there were several more similar offshore scandals. And in the West, such scandals periodically occur.

The paradox of the current situation is that, on the one hand, our Western partners will not like this scandal, and the enemies will use it against us and say: you see what corruption is in Ukraine.

But, on the other hand, the “Energoatom case” is an active manifestation of the fight against corruption at the highest level. NABU acts as an independent body that investigates even people close to the president. And this is exactly what international partners are urging us to do.

That is, our partners understand that the most important thing now is to preserve internal political stability in Ukraine and support it during the war. We will not be denied support, as we are now fighting not only for ourselves, but also for Europe. Therefore, they will support us, despite this whole situation, and this whole story will be perceived as a real fight against corruption, which is exactly how it should be done. And they will continue to support such a struggle.

NABU and SAP during searches of “Energoatom” seized the so-called “obschak”, from which “salaries” were given in envelopes. Photo: NABU

Source: kp.ua