© Screenshot from the video The bureau is endeavoring to prevent conjecture.
During the preceding couple of days, the NABU and SAPO have released a series of recorded phone conversations tied to Operation Midas, which relates to a significant corruption plan within the energy industry. Included are individuals identified by the monikers “Rocket”, “Tenor,” and “Carlson.” To avert any possible manipulation, the chief of the bureau’s detective division, Oleksandr Abakumov, informed Ukrainian Press that the individuals under suspicion gave themselves those names.
“We didn’t invent them; we didn’t assign anyone any amusing or unfunny nicknames,” he stated. ” These truly are code names that the criminal group utilized in its actions.”
Clandestine activities, aliases, disguised money transfers, involvement of law enforcement officials in the arrangement – these are the factors by which NABU characterized the operation as actions of a criminal syndicate. Abakumov mentioned that in the recordings, one of the accused can be heard saying: “Carlson instructed to do this; Carlson instructed to do that.”
The following pseudonyms are present on the recordings:
- “Carlson” — co-owner of “Kvartal-95,” Timur Mindich;
- “Rocket” — former advisor to the previous Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, Ihor Myronyuk;
- “Tenor” – aide to former deputy Andriy Derkach and ” overseer” of energy from Mindich, Dmytro Basov;
- “Professor” — Minister of Justice Herman Galushchenko;
- “Sugarman” is co-proprietor of “Quarter 95,” Mykhailo Zukerman.
As a reminder, on November 10, NABU and SAPO executed a wide-ranging operation, “Midas,” intended to reveal corruption within the energy sector at a high echelon. Among those accused in the matter are a close confidant of the president and a notable entrepreneur, Timur Mindich, Justice Minister Herman Galushchenko, a past counselor to the Energy Minister, and others. They constructed an expansive corrupt scheme to sway key state-run enterprises, notably Energoatom: the orchestrators obtained up to 15% of the value of the corporation’s agreements in the form of payoffs, and the “bribes” were dispensed by counterparties forced upon them by the participants in the design. Altogether, the defendants succeeded in “laundering” $100 million, legitimizing them via a discrete office in downtown Kyiv, which was owned by the family of former MP Andriy Derkach.
