Explainer: How Ukraine’s biggest corruption scheme persisted despite all odds

Ukraine's largest corruption scandal in years came to light last year with a wave of arrests, sanctions, and a political shakeup. New revelations over the past few weeks suggest that produced little result.

Last November, Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities' Operation Midas uncovered a $100 million money-laundering and bribery scheme that implicated high-ranking officials and associates close to President Volodymyr Zelensky, largely through state-owned energy company Energoatom.

At the center was Timur Mindich, a close Zelensky associate and co-owner of his Kvartal 95 production company. Mindich fled Ukraine shortly before the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) charged him with money laundering and organized crime in November, and Zelensky sanctioned him. Then-Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak was also dismissed amid the fallout.

Yet the scandal was far from over.

NABU recordings, both officially published and leaked in August, suggest the influence network associated with Mindich was broader than initially known, reaching into courts and law enforcement through separate corporate-raiding and money-laundering schemes, allegedly carried out in part by a former deputy head of the presidential office, Iryna Mudra.

The new evidence also suggested that Mindich retained significant influence even after his flight, and despite being sanctioned by Zelensky.

Last year's scandal was supposed to be a reckoning. But what looked like the dismantling of a powerful network may have been only its exposure.

Mindich's continued influence over a state-owned bank

The first indication that Mindich's influence didn't disappear after he fled is the fate of Sense Bank, a state-owned company.

Sense Bank was formerly known as Alfa Bank Ukraine and was owned by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman before it was nationalized by the Ukrainian government in 2023 amid Russia's full-scale invasion.

According to NABU recordings and reporting by Ukraine's leading media outlet, Ukrainska Pravda, the bank came under the informal control of Mindich and Zelensky's then-Chief of Staff, Yermak — at the time Ukraine's second-in-command and arguably its most powerful unelected official. Mindich, a co-owner of the president's Kvartal 95 production company, used his ties to amass a significant clout of his own.

That influence over the bank was made public largely by transcripts of recorded conversations leaked earlier this year to Ukrainska Pravda and to lawmakers Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Oleksiy Honcharenko.

In exchanges published in April and May, Vasyl Veselyi, an aide to Sense Bank's supervisory board, and Oleksandr Tsukerman, a suspect in the Energoatom case, mentioned talking to Yermak several times while discussing the bank.

The two also discussed influencing board appointments. Following the new case against Mudra, the Kyiv Independent reported in August that she had led the nomination committee selecting independent members of Sense Bank's board in May 2025.

The situation appeared to have changed in November 2025. Mindich fled to Israel just before NABU charged him with money laundering and organized crime, and Zelensky sanctioned him. Yermak resigned around the same time amid NABU searches and was charged in a separate money-laundering case in May 2026. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Yermak’s lawyer Ihor Fomin declined to comment, and Yermak did not respond to requests for comment.

But newly surfaced tapes show that Mindich's control over the bank continued well past his flight.

Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Action Center, said that based on her assessment of the tapes, she believes Mindich was the informal overseer of Sense Bank.

"It turns out that he continued to wield influence over the bank all the way through June 2026," she told the Kyiv Independent.

Shevchuk also said she believes Mindich was worried that the bank could be taken from him while he was abroad, and began looking for political cover.

In transcripts of NABU recordings leaked to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske, Mudra says that Mindich had asked "Kyrylo" — an apparent reference to Zelensky’s current Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov — to take control of the bank. As head of the President's Office, Budanov was Mudra's boss.

"You can't trust the bank to these crooks, and there are cash flows going through it," Mudra says in the recording, recounting what Mindich had told "Kyrylo." "Take the bank under your control."

In a separate fragment from around the same time cited by a lawyer at a court hearing, Mudra says to ex-lawmaker Maksym Mykytas on tape: "Listen, Kyrylo Oleksiyovich" — again an apparent reference to Budanov that uses his patronymic — "called and asked what's going on with Sense Bank."

Mudra did not respond to a request for comment from the Kyiv Independent.

On the tapes published by NABU and leaked to Hromadske, there are multiple references to "Kyrylo," "Kyrylo Oleksiyovich," Mudra's unnamed boss, and a top official of the President's Office. In the prosecutors' motion and transcripts leaked to Hromadske, there are also direct references to Budanov's last name.

When asked about alleged references to him in the tapes, Budanov told Hromadske on Aug. 27: "Let the court sort it out. You know, (my name) comes up in a lot of places.

Neither Mindich nor Budanov replied to requests for comment from the Kyiv Independent.

Was Arakhamia involved?

Apart from Budanov, there are indications that other political heavyweights could have been involved.

On the tapes published by NABU, Mudra said in June that a certain "David" and an unidentified head of a parliamentary committee were also seeking to influence Sense Bank. It is unclear whether "David" could refer to David Arakhamia, the parliamentary leader of Zelensky's party.

"They will not crack down on Sense Bank, and Sense Bank must pay them," Mudra said, describing the offer that "David" and the committee head allegedly made to the bank.

Following Yermak’s dismissal as head of Zelensky’s office in November, Arakhamia dramatically increased his clout, with some observers arguing that he is now the second most powerful person in Ukraine.

It is also unclear whether the people to whom Mindich did not want to entrust Sense Bank in a previously cited fragment refer to this "David" and the committee head. Shevchuk believes it is a plausible interpretation.

When asked by the Kyiv Independent about the "David" mentioned on the tapes, Arakhamia said, "There is nothing to comment on here; this never happened," in reference to whether he had sought to influence the bank.

The tapes come at a sensitive time for Arakhamia, whose associates have also come under NABU scrutiny. In December, the bureau charged five lawmakers from Zelensky’s party with taking cash in exchange for parliamentary votes and searched the premises of an Arakhamia aide, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent back in April.

In July, Ukrainska Pravda reported that NABU had obtained court orders to collect biological samples from the aide as part of the same case.

A shady bail scheme

But the alleged network wasn't merely maintaining influence over a bank. Investigators say it was still being used to move money and protect people implicated in the Energoatom scandal that came to light last year.

According to NABU, Sense Bank was used to transfer laundered money to post Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) bail for ex-Justice and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, a suspect in the Energoatom case, in June. The bail that Mudra and Mykytas were recently charged with laundering through the bank.

The defense of Mudra and Mykytas denied the accusations against them during court hearings in August. Mudra also said on Aug. 19 that the fragments of the conversations presented by the NABU were "out of context."

Mindich’s name also appears in the context of the bail.

A prosecutor said at a court hearing on Aug. 25 that "a member of the criminal group" based in Israel — an apparent reference to Mindich — had transferred cash to Mudra to pay Halushchenko's bail.

In June, Mykytas said that Mindich had personally delivered cash for Halushchenko's bail to "Kyrylo Oleksiyovych" — another possible reference to Budanov, according to the transcripts published by Hromadske.

Those transcripts also have Mudra saying that Sense Bank's management was prepared to follow instructions from "Kyrylo" and to bring the money wherever he says.

It is unclear, however, whether there is sufficient information to charge Budanov in the case. Everything depends on what other recordings the NABU has and what testimony the suspects will give, Shevchuk told the Kyiv Independent.

But after reviewing the NABU tapes, Shevchuk believes that "Budanov was at least aware that Mudra and Mykytas were collecting the bail money."

Influence over the judiciary

That is not the full extent of the network, which also allegedly reached into the very institutions meant to fight corruption — the courts, prosecutors and Justice Ministry.

In a separate scheme investigated as part of the same NABU operation in August, Mudra, Mykytas and lawmaker Vadym Stolar were charged with illegally seizing real estate by hacking the corporate register, forging documents, and influencing or bribing judges and prosecutors.

Mudra, who was responsible for the judiciary in her role as deputy head of the President’s Office, allegedly used her influence over judges. As part of her mandate, she submitted lists of judges for presidential appointment. Although the president is supposed to automatically appoint judges nominated by top judicial bodies, the process can sometimes be delayed or blocked, according to Mykhailo Zhernakov, head of judicial watchdog Dejure.

"As long as you retain this kind of hands-on control (over the appointment of judges) … you can say, 'Look, I appointed you, so now it’s time for you to repay the favor,'" Zhernakov said.

NABU transcripts show the suspects discussing ways to influence two judges, Pavlo Horbasenko and Anatolii Ivchenko, to issue favorable rulings in a corporate raiding scheme. They describe Horbasenko as "controllable" and discuss promoting him. Ivchenko remains a judge despite being charged with treason in 2025 over a ruling favoring Russia.

The tapes also implicate former top officials. Andriy Smyrnov, Zelensky’s former deputy chief of staff responsible for the judiciary, allegedly sought to influence Horbasenko after his dismissal.

On Aug. 19, NABU also searched the offices of Ihor Dashutin, head of the Supreme Court’s administrative division, and Larysa Rohach, head of its commercial division, as part of the corporate raiding case, according to law enforcement sources cited by Dejure. NABU declined to comment on the alleged searches.

The scheme also allegedly reached the Justice Ministry, where Mudra served as deputy minister from 2022 to 2024. According to the NABU tapes, she retained influence there and sought to use it to take over real estate companies. In at least one case, Justice Ministry officials refused to participate, the tapes show.

The Kyiv Independent requested comment from the judges involved, the Justice Ministry, and Smyrnov, but did not hear back by the time of publication.