Journalists identify foreign businesses linked to Operation Midas suspects

Investigative journalists have revealed that some of the individuals featured on the "Mindich tapes" in the investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) into corruption in the energy sector have residency, property and financial ties in Slovakia.

Source: Radio Liberty

Details: Some of the funds from the scheme uncovered by law enforcement may have been laundered through Slovak companies.

Tymur Mindich, a former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and co-owner of Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian TV production company Zelenskyy founded before he became president, is the focus of a joint investigation by the Ján Kuciak Investigative Journalism Centre (ICJK) in Slovakia and Skhemy, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project.

The investigation also concerns Mindich's business partner, entrepreneur Ihor Khmeliov, and Ihor Myroniuk, whom NABU describes as one of the shadow managers of the kickback scheme at state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom.

The Slovak commercial register shows that Tymur Mindich, one of the likely organisers of the corruption scheme in the energy sector, has been doing business in Slovakia for quite a few years.

"This also links him to another Ukrainian businessman whose name has appeared in the context of another high-profile story, involving the drone manufacturer Fire Point," the investigation notes.

Mindich officially registered as a sole trader in Bratislava in 2016, declaring his main business to be "retail trade other than shops, stalls and markets". In 2017, additional activities were added, including "provision of loans", "advertising services" and "market research and public opinion surveys".

In 2017, Mindich became a partner in Blackrock Consulting s.r.o., a Slovak limited liability company which had been founded a year earlier by three Russian citizens.

"On the same day, the firm changed its name to TIM&TIM. Mindich acquired this company together with a partner, Ihor Khmeliov, a Ukrainian citizen. Khmeliov also registered as a sole trader in Slovakia in the same month and year, and at the same address as Mindich," the investigation says.

TIM&TIM's main business is wholesale trade in clothing and footwear, although the list of its activities is much more extensive, ranging from courier services to market research and public opinion surveys.

"In recent years (with the exception of 2022), the company has shown significant financial results: its annual turnover hovered at around €1 million, reaching €4 million in 2019. Profits, however, were much more modest – the company ended last year with a profit of €12,000," the investigation says.

Tymur Mindich left the ownership structure of the firm at the end of March 2025 in unclear circumstances, as there are no documents explaining this in the Slovak commercial register.

This left Khmeliov, who is described as Mindich's business partner, as the sole owner and director of TIM&TIM. Since the summer of 2021, he has also owned one-third of another Slovak company, Lamačská Brána, the journalists report.

Founded in 2020, Lamačská Brána is engaged in the development of construction projects and the construction of residential and non-residential buildings. However, since its establishment, the company has consistently reported zero revenue and losses.

Read more: The president's men: how Zelenskyy's friends plundered Ukraine during the war

On 11 November 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a pre-trial restriction on Ihor Myroniuk (codenamed "Rocket" on the NABU tapes). According to the investigators, he and Dmytro Basov ("Tenor") managed the "shadow processes" within the criminal organisation. During the hearing, the prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office stated that the suspect has links to Slovakia.

According to the prosecution, Myroniuk told Basov in September 2025 that he owned a company and bank accounts, including some in Slovakia, and that his ex-wife and son – with whom he "maintains close relations" – live abroad.

"The Slovak register shows that Ihor Myroniuk does indeed have a business in this country. He started it back in 2008 together with his wife Olena, now his ex-wife, and their son Artur," the investigation says.

The family held stakes in a company called SU-Consulting s.r.o., which is mainly engaged in advertising. They sold the business in 2014.

Ihor Myroniuk remains a partner and executive director of another Slovak company – UKRCI s.r.o., founded in 2014. Its main activity is "non-specialised wholesale trade", the journalists report.

"However, it does not appear to be profitable – in 2024, the company's revenue amounted to just over €2,000. Previously, Olena Myroniuk also held a stake in this firm, but she appears to have transferred it to her son Artur in July this year," the investigation says.

A month earlier, however, in June 2025, Olena Myroniuk acquired another Slovak company specialising in retail trade, among other things – Management Alternative Technologies s.r.o.

"The nominal size of her contribution is €5,000 [the actual amount may differ – ed.]. The official registers currently contain no information on the company's financial performance since then," the investigation says.

Background:

• Earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered a pre-trial restriction in the form of detention in absentia for Tymur Mindich, a suspect in the NABU investigation into embezzlement at Energoatom.
• The suspects, who were reportedly shielded by government officials, laundered tens of millions of dollars from Energoatom.
• According to NABU, the money-laundering scheme was somewhat crude: businesses that wanted to sell goods or services to Energoatom had to pay a 10-15% kickback or face non-payment and removal from the supplier list – a mechanism dubbed the "tollgate", since you either share your margin or you are left standing at closed doors.
• Tymur Mindich (referred to as "Karlsson" in the NABU files), is alleged to have been the ringleader of the scheme. Mindich left Ukraine just hours before the NABU search began.
• Recently, Ukrainska Pravda journalists found Zelenskyy's former business partner Mindich in Israel.

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