Zelensky's Chief of Staff Budanov features in tapes linked to latest corruption case, media say

Kyrylo Budanov, head of the President’s Office, features in audio tapes recorded by investigators as part of the latest large-scale corruption case, the media outlet Hromadske reported on Aug. 26, citing court materials.

The Kyiv Independent has requested comment from the President’s Office and will publish its response once it is received.

The tapes were released as part of a major corruption investigation against President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra and other suspects. Last week they were charged by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) with corporate raiding and money laundering.

The latest case is linked to last year’s probe into state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom — the largest corruption investigation of Zelensky’s tenure. The Mudra case also comes on the heels of corruption charges against Zelensky’s former Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak in May.

At a court hearing on Aug. 25, a lawyer for Sense Bank CEO Oleksiy Stupak, one of the suspects in the latest case, publicly cited NABU tapes referring to “Kyrylo Oleksiyovich" — a person whose first name and patronymic coincide with Budanov’s. He did not specify his last name.

“Listen, Kyrylo Oleksiyovich called and asked what’s going on with Sense Bank,” Mudra said, according to the tapes cited by the lawyer.

Meanwhile, transcripts included in the prosecutors' motions in the case explicitly state that Budanov took part in the conversations, Hromadske reported.

In the alleged transcripts, Budanov thanked ex-lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, a suspect in the case, for his work.

“I’m with Kyrylo Oleksiyovich,” Mudra told Mykytas. “I put it on speaker.”

“Thank you, hello,” Budanov allegedly replied. “Thanks a lot.”

According to the prosecutors' motions, Mykytas and Mudra also discussed measures to avoid detection on Feb. 9, 2026, according to the alleged transcripts published by Hromadske.

During the conversation, Mudra told Mykytas that she had been invited to a gathering that court chiefs were expected to attend. But she decided not to go because she did not want to be seen with judges at a restaurant by the NABU.

“They invited me,” Mudra allegedly said. “Well, I’m not going. It wouldn’t be right. I mean, I’m telling you, if Budanov finds out... Especially since they meet at restaurants that are definitely on the NABU’s radar, you know?”

“Well, Budanov said not to meet at restaurants,” Mykytas said.

Mudra also said in the alleged transcripts that she had told Budanov she wants "to do the right things."

"I think fighting corruption is a very good thing, and if we manage to ratify this convention now and become a party to it, that will be something you and I can take credit for," she allegedly said.

Budanov then allegedly asked her, as cited by Mudra in the transcripts: "Do you really want to fight corruption?"

"Well, I don’t want my country to become mired in corruption," Mudra allegedly replied.

"Look, that’s the wrong approach," Budanov allegedly said. "Corruption needs to be systematized and controlled."

The media outlet Ukrainska Pravda also reported on Aug. 20, citing its sources, that Budanov’s name is mentioned in the text of the charges against Mudra.

On the tapes officially published by the NABU, Mudra repeatedly refers to her “boss." Mudra has two bosses — Zelensky and Budanov.

Apart from Mudra, Mykytas, and Stupak, lawmaker Vadym Stolar and Viktor Dubovyk, head of the legal policy department at the President's Office, were also charged as part of the case last week. Stolar has fled abroad.

Stolar, Mudra and Myktytas are accused of illegally seizing real estate by hacking the corporate register, forging documents, and bribing judges and law enforcement agencies.

Apart from that, Mudra and Mykytas are also are accused of laundering Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) and transferring the funds through Sense Bank to post bail for former Justice and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

Halushchenko was charged in February in the Energoatom case.