Court arrests Mindich's back office employee involved in laundering corruption funds

The High Anti-Corruption Court has placed Liudmyla Zorina, an employee of the back office involved in laundering money obtained through the corruption scheme at Energoatom, under arrest with the option of bail set at UAH 12 million (about US$284,000).

Source: press service of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO)

Details: If bail is posted, she must appear before detectives, prosecutors, and the court whenever summoned and may not leave Kyiv Oblast without the permission of investigators or the court.

She is also required to surrender her passports and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

According to investigators, Zorina is one of four members of the so-called back office responsible for legalising illicit funds.

She supposedly handled the accounting of controlled companies, prepared documents and reports, monitored powers of attorney, and personally participated in money-laundering operations.

Background:

• The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) exposed details of the corruption scheme under which top officials and their affiliates systematically laundered money from Energoatom, a Ukrainian state-run nuclear energy company.
• Ukrainska Pravda sources reported 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.
• Energoatom's security director, Dmytro Basov, has been remanded in custody by the High Anti-Corruption Court on suspicion of involvement in mass corruption in the energy industry. Basov appeared as "Tenor" on the NABU tapes.
• The High Anti-Corruption Court has ordered that former Energy Ministry advisor Ihor Myroniuk be remanded in custody with the option of bail in the amount of UAH 126 million (about US$3 million) on suspicion of involvement in the corruption case.
• In total, eight people have been named as suspects in the case, including former deputy prime minister and former minister for national unity Oleksii Chernyshov. Five of them have been detained so far:

• Liudmyla Zorina, business owner – detained for 60 days with bail set at UAH 12 million (about US$284,000)
• Lesia Ustymenko, business owner – detained for 60 days with bail set at UAH 25 million (about US$591,000)
• Ihor Fursenko, Executive Director for Security at Energoatom ("Rioshyk" in NABU tapes) – detained until 8 January with bail set at UAH 95 million (about US$2.2 million)
• Dmytro Basov, Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security at Energoatom ("Tenor") – detained for 60 days with bail set at UAH 40 million (about US$946,000).
• Ihor Myroniuk, former adviser to the Minister of Energy – held in custody with bail set at UAH 126 million (about US$3 million).

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