President's Office suspected leader of Zelenskyy's party of Mindich case leak and planned to charge him

The Office of the President of Ukraine was considering serving a notice of suspicion of treason on Davyd Arakhamiia, the leader of the Servant of the People party faction, on 20 November when President Zelenskyy met with the faction. The move was an attempt to find the "culprits" behind the Mindich case leak.

Source: article by Ukrainska Pravda

Details: MPs were expecting news regarding a potential dismissal of Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidential Office, and a government reshuffle during a large meeting with the Servant of the People faction on 20 November.

However, Yermak might have offered Zelenskyy the "correct" perspective of the investigation, identified the "culprits" responsible for the leak and presented the MPs' anger as "internal sabotage" by rebels within the team.

The main role of such a "political saboteur and traitor" was attributed to the faction leader, Davyd Arakhamiia.

Therefore, while MPs were preparing for the meeting with the president on 20 November, the Presidential Office intended to serve Arakhamiia with a notice of suspicion of treason.

Since the first Istanbul peace negotiations, Arakhamiia has notably maintained contact with the oligarch Roman Abramovich, a trusted associate of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Thus, the picture of Russian involvement in an attempt to "destabilise the system" appeared almost complete to the political strategists in the Presidential Office.

Meanwhile, there was no one willing to sign such a notice of suspicion and bring these charges: neither Vasyl Maliuk, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, nor even the "completely loyal" Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko showed the slightest enthusiasm for playing such a game, despite threats of dismissal and even actual preparations to carry out these threats.

Background:

• On 10 November, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported that it had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector and posted audio recordings of conversations between the people involved. Prior to this, Ukrainska Pravda sources said that NABU had conducted searches at the homes of Tymur Mindich and then Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko. Ukrainska Pravda sources also stated that Mindich left Ukraine hours before the searches.
• On 11 November, journalists identified all the individuals implicated in the large-scale investigation into corruption at Energoatom who have been formally notified of suspicion by NABU. An investigative reporting project by Skhemy found that notices of suspicion have been served on Tymur Mindich (referred to as "Karlsson" on the NABU tapes), former adviser to the energy minister Ihor Myroniuk ("Rocket"), Energoatom's executive director for security Dmytro Basov ("Tenor"), Oleksandr Tsukerman ("Sugarman"), Ihor Fursenko ("Roshyk"), Lesia Ustymenko and Liudmyla Zorina.
• Five of the suspects have been detained. Two – Mindich and Tsukerman – have left Ukraine.
• Pre-trial restrictions with the option of bail have been imposed on Basov, Myroniuk, Fursenko, Ustymenko and Zorina. It later emerged that the High Anti-Corruption Court has received bail payments for Lesia Ustymenko and Liudmyla Zorina, the two back-office employees involved in laundering funds linked to Energoatom.
• On 13 November, Zelenskyy enacted a decision by the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) to impose sanctions against businessman Tymur Mindich – co-owner of Kvartal 95 Studio (the Ukrainian TV production company Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded before he became president) and an associate of the president – and businessman Oleksandr Tsukerman.

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