Operation ‘Midas’ against the system: how the government is blocking the NABU investigation into ‘envelope wages’ and energy schemes

Operation ‘Midas’ against the system: how the government is blocking the NABU investigation into ‘envelope wages’ and energy schemes

Abuse of power under martial law quite predictably led at the end of last year to the biggest political crisis not only since the start of the full-scale invasion, but also since the beginning of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s unlimited tenure.

About this writes "Ukrainska Pravda".

Despite the fact that since mid-2022, politicians, journalists, and concerned citizens have repeatedly warned Bankova: the management system built on godfathers, party friends, and their trusted persons inevitably leads to corruption – the new political generation has not learned the lessons of its predecessors. As a result, on the most expensive land in Ukraine, in the capital’s Kozyn, during the great war, four mansions were built – each approximately 1000 square meters in area.

In political circles, this has long been no secret: four comrades planned a joint life of such scale that it became a topic of discussion in itself. However, NABU and SAPO seem to still be at the stage of collecting evidence, and it is unknown whether they will be able to bring the case to an end.

Meanwhile, the recipient of the largest of the houses may enjoy de facto immunity from anti-corruption prosecution, at least as long as they remain in office.

Cooperative "Dynasty"

UP Photo

Back in July 2025, according to UP’s interlocutors in political circles, the attack on the independence of NABU and SAPO began with the president’s emotional and demonstrative phrase: "They climbed into the family".

Just a few months passed, and this logic painfully turned against him: three closest friends found themselves at the center of high-profile corruption stories at the highest level.

The way out of the situation turned out to be as sharp as the beginning: the president publicly distanced himself, stating that during the war "friends do not exist". But the question remained: do they really not exist, or is it just the method of their protection that changes.

Photo from the baptism of Oleksiy Chernyshova’s daughter

Photo from the baptism of Oleksiy Chernyshov’s daughter

It seemed that the excessive greed of the political center, which on the sixth year of rule was already concentrating power not out of necessity, but out of inertia of permissiveness, was about to play against it itself. A symbol of this was, for example, the so-called "Ministry of National Unity" created for a specific person, the godfather of the presidential family, Oleksiy Chernyshov.

There was an illusion that at this very moment the parliament, humiliated by the July vote, would finally try to take revenge. But it did not happen.

On the eve of the new year, a month after the searches at the head of the OP Andriy Yermak’s place, NABU and SAPO unexpectedly visited the cradle of Ukrainian parliamentarism.

Thus, another close Kryvyi Rih friend of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yuriy Kisyel, and a number of MPs from the president’s faction received suspicions of participation in a criminal organization that, according to the investigation, distributed bribes to MPs for discipline. As a result, a large part of the deputies lost the ability to perform constitutional duties for almost four months.

Thus, the Ukrainian parliamentary-presidential republic entered 2026 not only with power and heat outages – a consequence of Russian shelling and failed preparation of the energy system, – but also with increasingly less concealed suspicions of total corruption of both power centers. Which seemed especially dangerous in the absence of the slightest prospect of any elections.

Despite palpable expectations, including among the ruling elite itself, the political shock from NABU’s work did not become a point of rethinking. It did not lead to increased accountability, nor to working on mistakes, nor to attempts to limit excessive power concentration through reforms insisted on by European partners.

Spokespeople of the authorities in conversations with EU officials found nothing better than to accuse those who exposed Ukrainian corruption of it. Yermak, instead of the front, went for a second round of ascent to the political Olympus through advocacy. And the parliament focused on negotiations for security guarantees. Security guarantees for the parliament.

Although holding presidential and parliamentary elections during a full-scale invasion is impossible, it is the president and people’s deputies who remain virtually the only Ukrainian citizens who even under martial law still have room for choice.

However, since in the backlog of necessary reforms on the fourth month of the new year there is still something quite opposite to "turbo mode", this choice seems to have been made. But there is a nuance.

"Ukrainska Pravda" tried to figure out how Tymur Mindich in the finale of the NABU and SAPO operation aptly named "Midas" may turn out to be "Dionysus", why the operation’s figures still do not betray each other, and where the suspicion against Yermak might have gotten lost.

New season with old faces

When Dionysus traveled the world, his companion Silenus lagged behind and fell asleep in a rose garden. The gardeners of King Midas caught him and brought him to the ruler. He received the guest and listened to his stories about distant lands and wonders for several days. Then he let him go, sending him back to Dionysus.

In gratitude, the god promised to fulfill one wish. Midas asked that everything he touches turns to gold. And at first he rejoiced: stones and flowers shone in his hands.

But soon even food and drink turned to gold. Frightened, the king began to beg to be deprived of the gift. And Dionysus ordered him to wash in the Pactolus River – there Midas got rid of his pernicious power.

The most influential participants in Ukrainian political life will easily catch parallels with the present in this myth. Tymur Mindich, who, according to many close to the president, was much more than just a co-owner of "Kvartal 95". Oleksiy Chernyshov, who not only made a dizzying leap to Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, but also became the president’s consolation.

How "Dionysus" could advise another guest of the power "gardens", Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, the country has already heard thanks to the tapes published by anti-corruption activists. And about how Ukrainian energy could turn into "gold" on accounts in exotic offshore zones, it is stated in official NABU and SAPO reports on suspicions against members of the organized group.

Despite the personnel activity of the president in the first days of January, many sources interviewed by "Ukrainska Pravda" in political circles sarcastically called it a new season of the old series "Servant of the People", the same people until recently pinned hopes at least on the oblivion of Andriy Yermak. And hoped a bit more for a suspicion to the forgotten one.

Almost five months after the dismissal brought neither oblivion nor responsibility. Key figures remained in their places – appointed more on the principle of loyalty than professionalism.

Andriy Yermak continues to consolidate influence, taking advantage of the absence of operational competition and alternative decision-making centers. According to "Ukrainska Pravda" sources in political and business circles, he not only has a full idea of the internal processes in the Presidential Office, but also retains decisive influence over the majority of appointees who appeared there during Andriy Borysovich’s time.

Essentially, it is about control over the vast majority of the higher state apparatus.

"One signal from the president, and everyone will stop picking up the phone from AB. But there is no such signal. On the contrary, there is a signal confirming Andriy’s powers," emphasizes a UP source in political circles.

"Yermak is gone – but he is there. Now he just needs to send not 10 texts, but 5. And the rest will be controlled by trusted persons," convinces another interlocutor in the power vertical.

"Shmyhal is in place. Kuleba is in place. Kravchenko is in place. Pronin is in place. Even Keeper is in place. GUR is AB’s creature. Casting for the head of SZR is also AB. What changed after Yermak’s dismissal? Budanov came to the OP? Well, let him try to change one of his deputies – more precisely, Yermak’s deputies," another political heavyweight is outraged.

Yermak, who at one time appointed not only the head coach of the Ukrainian national football team, but even the president of the chess federation, according to numerous UP interlocutors, really went into the shadows, but not from the Presidential Office.

"Try to get access to all brigades or enter the Bar Association without the president’s permission," one experienced political figure ironizes.

"We thought the problem was Yermak, so we fight Yermak, but it was the president," stated off the record one important member of Zelenskyy’s team in a conversation with the author of this material two months after the dismissal of the Presidential Office head.

That is why representatives of the political establishment, who at one time saw in the appointment of General Kyrylo Budanov a chance to reboot the power vertical and cleanse it of "a friend’s friends," increasingly explain the current personnel perturbations not with the logic of state management, but with a serial script.

"Replaced a negative character with a positive one, the president tried to bring back viewer favorites from previous seasons (meetings with Oleksandr Kubrakov, Dmytro Kuleba, and others)," one political veteran ironizes.

Most sources interviewed by "Ukrainska Pravda" agree: in the Presidential Office, it has indeed become "easier to breathe" – Yermak no longer monopolizes access, and queues of visitors have returned to the new chancery head, whom the system had long filtered out.

However, this apparent deconcentration of influence may turn out to be rather a tactical illusion than a structural change. Because the assumption that Andriy Borysovich has lost control over the very mechanisms of "ventilation" seems at least premature.

That is why the former chief intelligence officer of the country, already in the first 100 days after appointment, is forced to act not only as an administrator, but also as a political counterintelligence analyst – mapping the zones of influence of his predecessor and trying to separate formal changes from real power centers.

As follows from the words of UP interlocutors from Budanov’s entourage, the results of this audit give no grounds for optimism. Meanwhile, for Yermak himself, the new configuration seems to only expand the field of opportunities.

According to sources in political circles, he continues to think in terms of institutional entrenchment of influence – in particular through potential election as head of the Ukrainian Bar Council and entry into the High Council of Justice.

Suspicion for the best supporting role

According to "Ukrainska Pravda" sources in law enforcement agencies, recently NABU and SAPO again visited with searches in the capital’s center at the already legendary address Hrushevskoho, 9A. It was there in November last year that law enforcers searched Tymur Mindich’s facilities.

What did the anti-corruption officials need repeated searches for 5 months after the first ones?

House at Hrushevskoho 9A

As UP interlocutors in political circles claim, in parallel, Mindich received a summons to the High Anti-Corruption Court. However, this time his name was not the only one in the court documents: a summons to the VAKS hearing was also received by Andriy Yermak.

This is the first publicly recorded case where the former head of the Presidential Office appears in the same context as another figure close to Volodymyr Zelenskyy – within the "Midas" operation concerning possible abuses in the energy sector.

According to UP sources in the security bloc, the High Anti-Corruption Court hearing concerned the imposition of arrest on property within a criminal proceeding.

The list of items seized during the searches deserves special attention, to put it mildly. According to the same interlocutors, it is not about phones, laptops, or other information carriers, but about remotes from household appliances, personal hygiene items, shoes, and clothing. Such specifics of seizures may indicate preparation for biological examinations – to establish the ownership of these items by specific persons. And this is only one possible dimension of this story.

At the same time, neither Mindich nor Andriy Yermak appeared at the HACC hearing. If Mindich’s absence has an obvious explanation – after the searches by NABU and SAPO the day before, he left the country and, according to sources, is in Israel, the reason for Yermak’s non-appearance remains open.

And this raises a broader question: can the very fact of his summons to court indicate an attempt by the investigation to establish whether the items seized during the search of the apartment at Hrushevskoho, 9A belong to the former head of the Presidential Office?

In the editorial’s opinion, an even greater attention deserves the question: why do anti-corruption officials need to find out whose items were at Tymur Mindich’s facility or fingerprints on these items? Can such actions by law enforcers indicate that Mindich could have provided or gifted Yermak one of his apartments?

Perhaps the answer to this question lies 30 kilometers from the scandalous house – on the territory of the cooperative aptly named "Dynasty".

Cooperative “Dynasty”

In July last year, after Minister of Return of Ukrainians Oleksiy Chernyshov was returned to Ukraine by the whole country to receive suspicion from NABU and SAPO, colleagues from the Bihus.Info editorial published an investigation about one cottage town. It turned out that construction began back in 2019, and during the full-scale invasion, companies and people associated with the same Chernyshov continued to complete it.

After the publication of this investigation by colleagues, NABU and SAPO opened a criminal proceeding – another one in which the former vice prime minister figures. According to "Ukrainska Pravda" sources in anti-corruption agencies, the construction of these mansions was handled by Oleksiy Chernyshov – first as Minister of Regional Development, then as head of Naftogaz NJSC, and later as vice prime minister.

However, the reasonable suspicion concerns not only the fact of construction, but also the possible criminal origin of the funds. After all, according to journalists, the approximate cost of each mansion can reach ten million dollars.

Transcript of the figures’ conversations

Source – NABU

Already in November last year, when the "Midas" operation went public, NABU and SAPO published the so-called Mindich tapes, from which it became known that:

– A person whose voice resembles Oleksiy Chernyshov’s discusses receiving large sums of money in the office of the case figures

– A person whose voice resembles Tymur Mindich’s discusses conserving construction and risks to the construction related to the exposure of Oleksiy Chernyshov by anti-corruption agencies

Transcript of the figures’ conversations

Source – NABU

Based on the recordings already publicly disclosed by the official investigation, it can be assumed that Chernyshova could have been building four mansions in the "Dynasty" cooperative in Kozyn with money provided by Tymur Mindich.

The origin of this money and the owners of these four houses remain a mystery to this day.

Although in political and business circles long before journalistic findings there were talks that Oleksiy Chernyshov allegedly builds several mansions in the suburbs of Kyiv – for himself, Mindich, Andriy Yermak, and President Zelenskyy. At that time, it was perceived more as informational noise or another information-psychological operation rather than something requiring serious attention.

UP sources in anti-corruption agencies do not publicly comment on possible episodes related to Yermak. But in informal conversations, they repeat: the "Midas" operation could progress much faster – if three conditions were met.

First, if the State Financial Monitoring Service headed by Filip Pronin (appointed and dismissed by the president – UP) cooperated and disclosed the movement of funds related to the figures.

Second, if NABU and SAPO had their own expert institution – which the European Union requires to accelerate Ukraine’s accession.

And third, if officials associated with the case figures did not pressure the investigation but facilitated it.

Which of these factors may be decisive in Yermak receiving or not receiving suspicion after the searches NABU and SAP conducted at the end of November last year is unknown.

An interesting detail. "Ukrainska Pravda" interlocutors in the president’s entourage off the record say that anti-corruption agencies managed to confirm facts of Yermak using numerologists and astrologers’ services before making certain state decisions. Including before important appointments.

The editorial sent a request to Andriy Yermak, but as of publication, no response has been received.

Conversion of the monomajority, or We’ll get them "together"

Another key case for the country, which loudly started at the end of last year and as of now has completely disappeared from the information space – envelope payments to deputies.

At the end of last year, "Ukrainska Pravda" reported that as part of exposing the organized criminal group by NABU and SAPO, suspicions were received by people’s deputies from "Servant of the People" Yevhen Pyvovarov, Ihor Nehulevskyi, Olha Savchenko, and Yuriy Kisyel, whose office, according to sources of the publication "Zеrkalo tyzhnya", was wiretapped by law enforcers and even filmed video.

Yuriy Kisyel – a close and long-time friend of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was Kisel who bought the president’s estate when he moved to the state dacha. It was in MP Kisyel’s office that the son of another close friend and former first assistant to the president, Serhiy Shefir, worked.

After those searches and suspicions, the so-called parliamentary crisis allegedly began. According to sources of UP in political circles, it got to the point that Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka, at meetings with European officials in Brussels, began accusing anti-corruption agencies of "breaking parliament."

As interlocutors of "Ukrainska Pravda" in NABU and SAPO assure, overall, it could involve more than 150 MPs from the president’s faction.

Later, the author of this material repeatedly heard from various interlocutors in political backrooms that deputies, they say, are afraid to vote because anti-corruption officials could hold them criminally liable precisely for voting. Although an influential source in these agencies emphasizes that it concerns "exclusively possible bribes, not voting."

Be that as it may, four months after the first 5 suspicions against deputies – none of the MPs has received any other charges.

Last week, the heads of NABU and SAPO denied any agreements in this case, emphasizing: the investigation is ongoing, and more than 20 MPs have already been questioned. In turn, the publication "Mirror of the Week" noted that this time interfering with the investigation could be the Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko – exclusively Yermak’s – Zelenskyy’s creature.

According to sources of "Ukrainska Pravda" in law enforcement agencies, on December 27 last year, when NABU and SAPO went with searches to the deputies, investigative actions also took place at the assistant of the head of the president’s faction, David Arakhamia. However, it is unknown whether any evidence of involvement in unlawful actions by people directly related to the head of the president’s deputies or the faction leader himself was found.

NABU special forces in the corridor of the Parkovy Congress Center

Spring will show who stole where?

Although it is too early to draw final conclusions in the first and second cases, the interim observations already look quite obvious.

No one at the top of the power food chain shows readiness to cooperate with the investigation. No one intends to surrender their own. And no one is in a hurry to stop the pressure on the NABU and SAPO investigations. Why?

Of course, everything could look different. After a series of high-profile corruption scandals, the authorities could quickly embark on reforms. They could limit their own influence and reduce corruption risks.

Then it could be said that the worst is behind us. Along with new palaces in Kozyn, "barrier gates," and shadowy "back-offices."

But as long as Ukrainian society risks not finding out who really paid bail for Oleksiy Chernyshov, where Andriy Yermak’s suspicion is, and whose money was paid to deputies in envelopes, the situation looks different.

The demands of European partners for reforms are increasingly resembling an offer to the authorities to defeat themselves. Or, in their own words, – "do" themselves.

And defeating oneself – is not in the Ukrainian political tradition. As far from ancient Greek myths about "Midas" as Ukraine – is from elections.

Author: Mykhailo Tkach