Participants in energy sector corruption scheme transferred funds to former Ukrainian Dpty PM — NABU

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has documented how members of a criminal organization transferred funds to a former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, whom they referred to internally as "Che Guevara," the Bureau said.

"Investigators recorded the transfer of a total of $1.2 million and nearly EUR 100,000 in cash, directly at an office or in a medical clinic owned by one of the organization's members," NABU said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.

The final payment – $500,000 – was transferred to "Che Guevara's" wife after he himself became a suspect in corruption crimes investigated by NABU and Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

As reported earlier, on June 23 NABU and SAPO notified former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity of Ukraine (2024–2025) Oleksiy Chernyshov that he is suspected of abuse of office and obtaining unlawful benefits of particularly large amounts for himself and third parties. His actions as former Minister for Communities and Territories Development were classified under Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364, and Part 4 of Article 368 of Ukraine's Criminal Code.

NABU has worked on Operation "Midas" since summer 2024 and has now moved to its final stage.

Earlier reports citing NABU said that among those implicated in the large-scale energy-sector corruption scheme are National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) member Serhiy Pushkar, businessman Tymur Mindich, former Energoatom executive director for physical protection and security Dmytro Basov, and former Energy Ministry adviser Ihor Myroniuk.

NABU previously stated that the organization's primary illicit activity involved systematically extracting kickbacks from Energoatom contractors amounting to 10–15% of contract value. Contractors were pressured to pay kickbacks to avoid blocked payments for delivered goods or services or to avoid being stripped of supplier status. This practice became known as the "barrier," NABU said in a Telegram post on Monday.

The head of the criminal organization recruited a former Deputy Head of the State Property Fund, who later became an Energy Ministry adviser, as well as a former law enforcement officer who became Energoatom's executive director for physical protection and security. Leveraging their official connections in the ministry and the state-owned enterprise, they maintained control over personnel decisions, procurement processes, and financial flows.

In practice, a strategic enterprise with annual revenues exceeding UAH 200 billion was effectively being managed not by official leadership but by outside individuals with no formal authority, who assumed the role of "overseers."

Anticorruption agencies also released portions of audio recordings related to the investigation.

NABU emphasized: "Fifteen months of work and 1,000 hours of audio recordings. We have documented the activities of a high-level criminal organization whose participants built a far-reaching corruption scheme enabling them to influence strategic state-sector enterprises, particularly Energoatom."