Operation Midas: Ukrainian anti-corruption agency reveals how funds from Energoatom were laundered

Investigators have revealed that the laundering of illicit funds obtained from contractors of Energoatom, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear power company, was handled by a separate office of the recently uncovered criminal organisation that was located in central Kyiv.

Source: National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU)

Quote: "The premises belonged to the family of Andrii Derkach, a former MP turned Russian senator who has been charged by NABU and SAPO [the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office] in another criminal proceeding.

Through this office, detailed records were kept of the funds received, off-the-books accounting was conducted, and money laundering was arranged through a network of non-resident companies. A significant part of the operations, particularly cash withdrawals, was carried out outside Ukraine.

The illegally obtained funds were not laundered by Roсket himself – this function was assigned to other members of the criminal organisation. [Rocket is the alias used by one of the individuals involved in the corruption scheme – ed.]

For providing services to individuals outside the criminal organisation, the office was paid a percentage of the amounts transferred. In total, around US$100 million passed through this 'laundromat'."

Background:

• NABU has disclosed details of a scheme in which officials and associated individuals systematically received illegal gains from contractors of Energoatom.
• Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that on the morning of 10 November, NABU detectives conducted searches at the home of Tymur Mindich, a businessman and co-owner of Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian TV production company Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded before he became president.
• According to the same sources, Mindich left Ukraine just hours before the search began.
• NABU confirmed that, together with SAPO, it is conducting a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector.
• "Fifteen months of work and one thousand hours of audio recordings. The activities of a high-level criminal organisation have been documented," NABU stated.
• The investigators have uncovered an extensive corruption network influencing strategic state companies, including the state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom.
• NABU and SAPO have released part of the audio recordings from Operation Midas, their investigation into the large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector.

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