LONDON, November 28. /TASS/. The raids conducted at the Kiev residence of Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak form part of Operation Midas, a large-scale investigation to uncover corruption within Ukraine's energy sector, Christopher Miller, a Kiev-based correspondent for the Financial Times (FT) news outlet reported.
"The searches at Andrey Yermak’s Kiev home <...> are connected to Midas, a sweeping probe into alleged bribery in Ukraine’s energy sector," he stated on the social media platform X.
Initial reports of the raids targeting Yermak originated from Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak and the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet. Photos from the scene depicted approximately ten officers from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) passing through a security checkpoint in Kiev's government quarter. Yermak’s current location is not publicly known, and neither he nor Zelensky has issued a statement on the matter.
On November 10, NABU and SAPO announced the start of Operation Midas, which targets a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. The scheme was allegedly orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich, an associate of Zelensky. Investigators carried out searches at properties linked to Mindich, as well as at the residences of Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was subsequently dismissed, and at the premises of the state-owned company Energoatom. The investigation asserts that participants in the scheme laundered at least $100 million. That same day, NABU began releasing excerpts from audio recordings obtained from Mindich’s apartment, where corruption schemes were purportedly discussed. Investigators secured a total of 1,000 hours of audio recordings.
On November 11, NABU formally filed the first charges, which included charges against Mindich as the alleged leader of a criminal organization, and also against former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, a close friend of Zelensky. Mindich, who has been described as Zelensky’s "wallet," departed from Ukraine hours before the raids were executed and is presently in Israel. On November 17, subsequent reports indicated that Yermak might be referenced on the NABU recordings under the pseudonym Ali Baba.