The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said that it did not halt the publication of materials from the “Midas” operation due to the geopolitical situation. Some materials are at the investigation stage.
Semen Kryvonos, the head of NABU, spoke about this during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy.
“We publish only the portion of information that confirms a documented, already established episode of criminal activity for verification. This is our usual practice.”
– Semen Kryvonos
Kryvonos emphasized that the case has attracted public attention, so the public is following the developments and awaiting new details.
“We did not halt (the publication of materials) because of geopolitics.”
– Semen Kryvonos
The head of NABU explained that the agency does not publish those materials that are “at a stage of even more thorough investigation.”
“You can be sure that we maintain our independence… There is pressure, but not one that would stop our pre-trial investigation.”
– Semen Kryvonos
Details of the operation and the case participants
According to investigators, on November 10 NABU announced a special operation to expose a corruption scheme in the energy sector. It was found that the participants of the criminal organization created a large-scale scheme to influence strategic state enterprises, including Energoatom.
The office used for operations was located in central Kyiv, in a building belonging to the family of the traitor Andriy Derkach – a former member of Parliament and now a senator in the Russian Federation. It was there that the “black ledger” was kept, cash was stored, and all payments were recorded.
According to the investigation, five of the seven suspects were detained. Among the defendants are a businessman whom the investigation considers the head of the criminal organization, a former adviser to the energy minister, and the executive director for physical protection and security of Energoatom. Also named are Timur Mindich, Ihor Myronyuk, Dmytro Basov, and four more employees of the so-called “back office for legalization of funds”: among them Oleksandr Tsukerman, Ihor Fursenko, Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina. Five of them have been detained, two – Mindich and Tsukerman – have left Ukraine.
The investigation continues, and investigators are working on additional materials to confirm or refute the illicit actions in the state-owned enterprises sector.
NABU did not halt publication of the “Midas” materials due to geopolitics – Kryvonos