Several law enforcement agencies come under fire over alleged involvement in Ukraine's biggest graft scheme
Several law enforcement agencies were lambasted by a parliamentary commission on Nov. 17 for failing to investigate their employees' alleged involvement in a large-scale corruption scheme at state nuclear power company Energoatom.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has charged eight suspects with bribery, embezzlement, and illicit enrichment in the Energoatom case. The alleged ringleader is Timur Mindich, a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Law enforcement officials are being investigated for allegedly aiding suspects in the Energoatom corruption scheme. Representatives of several law enforcement agencies attended a meeting of the Ukrainian parliament's special investigative commission for economic security issues on Nov. 17.
"A lack of responses (from law enforcement agencies) or a response like 'the probe will be completed in half a year' will be considered as complicity (in the corruption scheme) not only by lawmakers but also by society," Anastasia Radina, head of parliament's anti-corruption committee, said at the commission meeting.
Leaks
Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko said at the meeting that the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) had documented several leaks from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and SAPO over a period of 15 months.
He added that the SAPO is investigating the leaks as part of an internal probe and several criminal cases.
Klymenko previously said on Nov. 13 that the SAPO was investigating allegations that his deputy, Andriy Synyuk, had leaked information in the Energoatom case.
The statement followed reports that Mindich had been tipped off about possible searches and left the country beforehand.
On Nov. 10, media outlet Ukrainska Pravda published video footage of Synyuk meeting with Oleksiy Meniv, a lawyer who visited Mindich's apartment building in the same period.
Synyuk has denied leaking any information in the case.
Law enforcers' involvement
Several law enforcement agencies are mentioned in tapes released by the Anti-Corruption Bureau as part of the case.
"The train station (an apparent reference to the State Investigation Bureau, which is located near the train station in Kyiv), and the Service (an apparent reference to the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU) and Riznytska (an apparent reference to the Prosecutor General's Office on Riznytska Street) will join in, and they'll start fabricating (cases)," Ihor Myroniuk, one of the suspects, said in the tapes.
In the recordings, Mindich also mentions some unknown agreement about money with prosecutors, the Security Service, and the Economic Security Bureau. The bureau told the Kyiv Independent that it has launched a probe into the allegations.
Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Khomenko said at the commission meeting that there was no internal probe into prosecutors' possible participation in the corruption scheme. He said that the Prosecutor General's Office had not requested any information from the NABU and SAPO.
"I believe that any internal probe or criminal investigation would be premature until a person is charged," he said.
Bohdan Chobitok, head of the State Investigation Bureau's audit department, said that the bureau had opened an internal probe and a criminal case into alleged bribery and abuse of power. However, so far no one has been identified or suspended, he said.
Anti-corruption prosecutors said earlier at court hearings that suspects in the Energoatom scheme had discussed bribing the State Investigation Bureau.
Suspects in the Energoatom case have also allegedly organized a State Investigation Bureau criminal case against Yuriy Boyko, a former supervisory board member at power company Ukrenergo, according to the Anti-Corruption Bureau tapes and Ukrenergo's former CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
In October, Myronyuk also said that he had "close ties" with the State Investigation Bureau's leadership and was receiving information on criminal investigations from them, according to the tapes.
Vitkor Pavlushchyk, head of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), said that the agency had launched an internal probe into the allegations on its employees' involvement in the scheme. However, so far NACP employees allegedly involved in the corruption scheme have not been identified, he added.
Asked when the probe would be completed, he said he cannot specify a deadline.
One of the suspects, Dmytro Basov, allegedly gave a $20,000 bribe to the National Corruption Prevention Agency in May, according to the Anti-Corruption Bureau recordings.
Security threats and cash flows
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has also come under fire both for allegations of its involvement in the scheme and its apparent failure to respond to national security threats.
Suspects in the case are linked to Andrii Derkach, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who has fled the country, has been charged with high treason, and currently serves as a Russian senator.
According to the tapes, the suspects have also allegedly transferred $2 million to Moscow.
In October, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a lawmaker from the opposition Holos party, published an investigation according to which Mindich owned a stake in Russian diamond producer New Diamond Technology until 2024 — well into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Oleh Holovash, the chief of staff for SBU Chief Vasyl Malyuk, said at the meeting that the service is investigating the national security threats but argued he could not disclose investigative secrets. He also said that some of the cases involving Derkach had been transferred from the SBU to the Anti-Corruption Bureau because they also involve corruption.
In a response to the Kyiv Independent, the Security Service also cited Semen Kryvonos, head of the NABU, as saying in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda that the Security Service was not implicated in the Energoatom scheme.
Another agency that has come under fire is the State Financial Monitoring Service.
Kryvonos said at the meeting that the Anti-Corruption Bureau had been having problems with obtaining information from the service on cash flows linked to defense procurement as part of the Mindich case.
Zheleznyak said at the meeting that the requests were linked to Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau has investigated Mindich's alleged connections with drone producer Fire Point, sources previously told the Kyiv Independent. Fire Point has denied having any links to Mindich.
Filip Pronin, head of the State Financial Monitoring Service, claimed at the meeting that the agency had not seen any suspicious cash flows as part of the case. He added that the service cannot send a written response to the NABU until a suspicion is confirmed.
