An extensive anti-corruption investigation into allegations of graft involving the state nuclear power company Energoatom has rocked Ukraine.
What is happening with the probe, which could become the most significant anti-corruption case in the country and spark a massive political scandal?
On Monday morning, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced they had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector.
The operation was given the code name “Midas”, after King Midas from the Greek myth, who turned everything he touched into gold.
NABU and SAPO said the investigation, which was 15 months in the making and involved 1,000 hours of audio recordings, uncovered the participation of several members of the Ukrainian government.
The anti-corruption bureau reported that the group was collecting bribes from Energoatom contractors, amounting to 10-15% of each contract’s value.
Around $100 million in funds was laundered, according to the NABU.
“In fact, the management of a strategic enterprise with an annual revenue of over €4 billion was carried out not by officials, but by outsiders who had no formal authority,” the NABU said in a statement.
The allegation is that they received payments from contractors building fortifications against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, while millions of Ukrainians across the country are suffering from power outages and blackouts after Russian attacks.
Who is implicated in the investigation?
Oleksandr Abakumov, who leads the investigation team, said in a video on NABU’s YouTube channel that around 70 searches were conducted among high-ranking officials on the morning of Monday.
On Tuesday, the Anti-Corruption Bureau charged eight people with bribery, embezzlement, and illicit enrichment.
Among them is Ihor Myroniuk, once advisor to former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, who previously served as deputy head of the State Property Fund.
Myroniuk also worked as an aide to fugitive Ukrainian ex-lawmaker Andrii Deerkach, who has served as a Russian senator since 2024.
Also implicated is Dmytro Basov, a former prosecutor and ex-head of Energoatom’s physical security department.
The NABU says Myroniuk and Basov effectively “took control of all company purchases”.
Another four people involved worked at a back office used for money laundering, according to NABU, including Ukrainian businessman Oleksandr Tsukerman.
Halushchenko, Ukraine’s former energy minister from 2021 to July 2025, who then became the country’s justice minister until his resignation two days ago, has also been allegedly involved.
The investigation by the anti-corruption bureau alleges that the ringleader and the mastermind behind the corruption scheme is businessman Timur Mindich, a past business partner of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Who is Timur Mindich?
Mindich used to be one of Zelenskyy’s closest associates before he became president in 2019.
He is the co-owner of Kvartal 95, a production company founded by Zelenskyy.
After being elected in 2019, Zelenskyy transferred his stake in the company to other partners.
In 2021 the president reportedly celebrated his birthday in Mindich’s apartment, according to Ukrainian investigative journalists.
Mindich, 46, is from the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. He is a film producer with extensive business interests across various sectors.
On Thursday Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing sanctions on Mindich and another businessman Oleksandr Tsukerman, also implicated in the corruption probe.
According to the presidential decree announcing the sanctions, both Tsukerman and Mindich are Israeli citizens, which allowed them to freely leave the country, unlike Ukrainian citizens.
The NABU has already searched several premises connected to Mindich, but he left Ukraine before the bureau revealed the investigation earlier this week.
According to the State Border Guard Service, Mindich crossed the border legally, which he is also entitled to as a father of three underage children.
Tsukerman, 61, has also reportedly left Ukraine. All men over 60 are legally allowed to leave the country as well.
Kyiv’s reaction to the probe
In response to the investigation, Ukraine launched a massive anti-corruption audit of all state-owned companies, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Thursday.
Kyiv is preparing a “comprehensive decision regarding all state-owned enterprises, including those in the energy sector,” Svyrydenko said.
“Audits are under way, and supervisory boards have been instructed to review operations, especially procurement practices.”
Earlier this week, Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk resigned amid the probe together with Halushchenko.
But the alleged involvement of Zelenskyy’s former business partner and personal friend Mindich makes this investigation particularly sensitive for the Ukrainian leader and could turn into the biggest corruption scandal of his presidency.
His entire 2019 presidential campaign had been built on promises to fight corruption.
“Everyone who created schemes must receive a clear procedural response. There must be verdicts. And government officials must work together with NABU, together with law enforcement agencies,” Zelenskyy said this week as the investigation was revealed.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs
The NABU and SAPO were created in 2015 as part of pro-Western reforms following Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, which ousted former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
NABU investigates top-level corruption, and its cases are overseen and prosecuted by SAPO. Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court subsequently tries those cases.
The two institutions were established to independently investigate and prosecute leading Ukrainian officials suspected of graft, without being subject to political influence or interference.
Corruption cases were supervised by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, who was independent from Ukraine’s prosecutor general.
The creation of NABU and SAPO was one of the requirements set by the European Commission and International Monetary Fund for Ukraine’s visa liberalisation with the EU.
In July, Ukraine’s state security service SBU launched a series of raids on NABU as part of a sweeping investigation into suspected Russian infiltration. Over a dozen employees were searched and two detectives were detained.
The SBU said it had arrested one official at the NABU on suspicion of being a Russian spy and another over alleged business ties with Moscow. Other NABU officials had ties to a fugitive Ukrainian politician’s banned party, according to the state security service.
Both anti-corruption agencies refuted the claims made against their employees. The watchdogs also claimed that the SBU’s counterintelligence efforts were what they called “preparation” for the Ukrainian parliament amending the law and effectively eliminating the independence of the country’s anti-corruption institutions one month later.
Thousands took to the streets across Ukraine to protest the bill and call on Zelenskyy to veto it.
Commenting on the public outrage, Ukraine’s president said in July “the anti-corruption infrastructure will work, but without Russian influence”.
“We need to clean up everything. And there should be more justice. Of course, NABU and SAPO will work. Ukraine has really ensured the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law. And this is what Ukraine really needs. Cold cases must be investigated”.
A few days later, the Ukrainian parliament restored the independence of two of the country’s key anti-corruption watchdogs and added additional provisions, including SBU background checks on employees of NABU, SAPO and other agencies with access to state secrets to identify any possible collaborators with Russia.
Additionally, staff from these agencies should undergo internal polygraph testing every two years, using a methodology approved by the Security Service of Ukraine.
EU and Ukraine’s fight against corruption
The European Commission said on Thursday that the ongoing investigation has proven that the country’s anti-graft bodies “work”.
Brussels stressed that continuous efforts to fight corruption are a key requirement in the EU accession process.
“I think it’s really important to underline that these investigations which are taking place in Ukraine show that the anti-corruption (measures) work, and institutions are there to precisely fight against it,” EU chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said.
Visiting Brussels a few months ago, the heads of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions told the European Commission that opening accession negotiations would protect them from further attempts to weaken their independence.
