The corruption scandal surrounding Energoatom deepens. Investigators have uncovered connections to Russia
Suspects in the major corruption scandal centered on the energy company Energoatom have connections with a Russian official, and part of the money could have been transferred to Russia, according to audio recordings published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
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NABU charged eight suspects with bribery, embezzlement and illicit enrichment. Among them are Timur Mindici, a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksi Chernișov.
Among the suspects is Ihor Mironiuk, a former adviser to Andrii Derkaci, a former Ukrainian deputy who fled the country on charges of high treason. He is currently a Russian senator.
In the records made public by NABU, Mironiuk says that Derkaci and the Minister of Justice, Herman Haluschenko, knew each other.
“When (Haluschenko) was appointed to Atom (Energoatom), (Derkaci) called him: 'Come, I want to tell you how everything works there.' So he went,” Mironiuk says in the recordings, referring to Haluschenko's appointment as vice president of Energoatom in 2020.
In 2020, Derkaci was a Ukrainian MP. He ran Energoatom in the 2000s.
The bribes were laundered through an office in downtown Kyiv owned by Derkaci's relatives, according to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
According to the records, the suspects allegedly transferred $2 million to Moscow.
“They left 2 (million dollars); they will reach Moscow in a week and a half,” Ihor Fursenko, another suspect, said in May 2025, according to the records.
These statements sparked speculation that the money may have been transferred to Derkaci.
Anastasia Radina, head of the Ukrainian parliament's anti-corruption commission, requested on November 12 a parliamentary investigation into a possible transfer of funds to Russia.
Who is Andrii Derkaci?
Derkaci, 58, has a long history of serving Kremlin interests.
He studied at the Academy of the Soviet KGB, later integrated into the Russian FSB, between 1990 and 1993.
He was a member of the Ukrainian parliament between 1998 and 2023. More specifically, he represented the Party of Regions, former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, from 2012 to 2014.
He attacked the US Democratic Party and former US President Joe Biden, accusing them of corruption. He also criticized NABU, claiming it was a political tool of the US.
In 2020, the US sanctioned Derkaci, citing that he tried to interfere in the US presidential election and that he was “an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close ties to Russian intelligence”.
Ukraine sanctioned him in 2021.
In 2022, the Security Service exposed a network of Russian agents in Ukraine, including this MP, who was charged with high treason.
He was accused of receiving funds from Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) to create private security structures that Russia planned to use to conquer Ukraine, according to the Security Service. Russia would have allocated 3-4 million dollars every few months for this purpose.
In 2022, NABU accused him of receiving at least $567,000 from Russian law enforcement and intelligence agencies for subversive activities against Ukraine, according to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Derkaci's Ukrainian citizenship was revoked in 2023 and his parliamentary term ended.
In 2024, he became a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament.
Five people detained, two ministers dismissed in $100 million corruption scheme
Authorities detained five suspects, while Zelenskiy sanctioned two businessmen who fled Ukraine hours before the raids as part of the Energoatom corruption probe.
The scandal hits at a particularly vulnerable time. Ukraine generates more than half of its electricity from nuclear power after Russia seized the Zaporizhia plant, while citizens face 12-hour blackouts due to systematic Russian attacks on infrastructure. The embezzled funds, the equivalent of 27 Patriot missiles or 40,000 interceptor drones – took place while contractors were building defenses for facilities under active bombardment, raising questions about the motivation behind the scheme – corruption or deliberate sabotage for the benefit of Moscow, writes euromaidan press.
Two ministers resigned, the government dissolved Energoatom's board, and authorities announced audits of all state-owned enterprises.
The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ordered the preventive arrest of five people involved in the scheme, with bail ranging from 12 million hryvnias ($285.5 thousand) to 126 million hryvnias ($3 million).
For Ihor Mironiuk, former adviser to the Minister of Energy, Herman Halushchenko, the court set a bail of 3 million dollars. Prosecutors identified him as having the code name “Rocket” in surveillance footage, as the one who took control of Energoatom's procurement procedures, along with the company's security director
Dmitro Basov, the former executive director for physical protection of Energoatom, risks 60 days of detention and in his case the bail is 951.7 thousand dollars.
The court also detained three employees of the public administration, allegedly involved in money laundering.
On November 13, Volodymyr Zelenskiy also signed a decree imposing sanctions against two people involved in the Energoatom case.
This is Timur Mindici, a businessman and close associate of President Zelenski, as well as co-owner of the president's former production company, Kvartal 95. NABU investigators claim that he was the main organizer of the corruption scheme.
The second is Oleksandr Tsukerman, a businessman who allegedly ran the “office” used to launder illicit funds.
Questions related to sabotage
“This information raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: were these officials stealing money just to enrich themselves and buy luxury properties abroad, or were they intentionally weakening Ukraine?” reacted Olena Tregub, a prominent anti-corruption activist
The Security Service of Ukraine opened a separate investigation into Mindici for “assistance to an aggressor state” based on allegations of operations in Russia during the large-scale invasion.
