A certain «Ali Baba» holds meetings and sets tasks to prosecute NABU and SAPO, — prosecutor Klymenko

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting Forum was held in Kyiv on 14 November. Photo: NikVesti

The head of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Oleksandr Klymenko, said that meetings are being held in Ukraine to instruct law enforcement agencies to prosecute NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors.

He said this during a forum of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Kyiv on 14 November, a correspondent of NikVesti reports.

According to the head of the SAPO, there is a specific person in the Ukrainian political elite who coordinates these meetings and influences the decisions of law enforcement agencies to put pressure on anti-corruption bodies. It is not yet known who this person is, but Oleksandr Klymenko called him «Ali Baba» during the forum.

« A certain «Ali Baba» holds meetings where he assigns tasks to law enforcement agencies so that they pursue and continue to pursue NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors. This is not a normal story, because the pressure will continue. That is why individual cases are very important, because if all detectives are imprisoned one by one, there will be no one to investigate the proceedings. Not even all of them — 10 people will be detained and kept in pre-trial detention centres, while the remaining 200 will not work because they are afraid that any exposure will lead to the fact that they will feel like a hostage in a pre-trial detention centre,» said Oleksandr Klymenko.

The head of the SAPO at the forum of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Kyiv on 14 November. Photo: NikVesti

It should be noted that one of the cases mentioned by the SAPO head is the detention of NABU detective Ruslan Mahomedrasulov, allegedly on the grounds of doing business with the Russian Federation. However, during the exposure of corruption in the energy sector on 10 November, it became known that it was Mahomedrasulov who collected important evidence regarding the «Midas» operation, as reported by the bureau's detective Oleksandr Abakumov in «UP.Chat».

«Midas». Large-scale corruption in the energy sector

On the morning of 10 November, it became known that NABU detectives were conducting a search at the home of businessman and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 Studio Tymur Mindich. At the same time, as UP pointed out, Tymur Mindich left the territory of Ukraine on the same day — a few hours before the start of the investigation. According to the source, he «fled the country at night».

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Later, it was reported that the NABU and the SAPO were conducting a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector. The bureau said the investigation lasted 15 months. More than 70 searches were conducted as part of the case, and investigators collected more than 1,000 hours of audio recordings. As part of the operation, they searched the offices of former Energy Minister and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and «Energoatom».

On the same day, the NABU and the SAPO published part of the audio recordings of conversations between the persons involved in the corruption scheme. The tapes released by the Bureau include officials with call signs «Tenor», «Rocket», «Carlson». According to «RBK-Ukraine», the tapes feature:

• Ihor Myroniuk — former advisor to the Minister of Energy (Rocket);
• Dmytro Basov — Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of «Energoatom», former employee of the Prosecutor General's Office (Tenor);
• Tymur Mindich — businessman, head of the organisation (Carlson);
• Herman Halushchenko, former Minister of Energy, now Minister of Justice (Professor).

It also became known that the defendants were involved in the legalisation of illegally obtained funds in an office in the centre of Kyiv. It belongs to the family of MP Andrii Derkach, who is now a politician in Russia.

In the published fourth part of the investigation, the NABU found that participants in the energy sector corruption scheme transferred funds to the former Deputy Prime Minister, who was referred to in the documents and materials of the investigation as Che Guevara. Later it became known that it was former Minister of National Unity Oleksii Chernyshov. He was notified of being suspected of illicit enrichment.

Later, «Schemes» (Radio Liberty) named the names of all those who had been notified of suspicion by NABU as part of a large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector. Among them was not the name of Herman Halushchenko. However, only on 12 November did it become known that Halushchenko had been removed from office following an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into corruption schemes at NNEGC «Energoatom».

Commenting on the situation, «Energoatom» stated that the large-scale corruption in the energy sector recently exposed by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine did not affect the stability of its operations.