"The scandal around the Energoatom case and the "Mindich recordings" - named after Timur Mindich, a close associate of Volodymyr Zelensky and a central figure in a major corruption affair in Ukraine's energy sector involving 100 million dollars in kickbacks - has shown how the Ukrainian authorities have turned access to public contracts into a mechanism of extortion: to take part in tenders, companies are expected to pay a 10-15% "entrance fee"."
"In this context, the new offensive against businessman Fedoricsev in Ukraine looks less like a pursuit of justice than a continuation of the same logic: law-enforcement bodies are using a criminal case as a lever of pressure on private actors and as a convenient tool for polishing their public image. What happened: the National Police steps in where the High Anti-Corruption Court had already ruled"
"The key point is this: after ten years of investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) never managed to bring the case to a conclusion - no notice of suspicion was ever served on Fedoricsev, and not a single asset-freeze order against him was upheld by the courts despite some 60 attempts. The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) overturned his arrest in absentia and rejected the investigators' harshest requests,"
The Energoatom case and the 'Mindich recordings' reveal a system where access to public contracts requires 10-15% 'entrance fees' to participate in tenders. Law-enforcement bodies appear to use criminal cases as leverage against private actors, blending pressure with image management. On 21 October 2025, the Pechersk District Court ordered seizure of Fedoricsev's shares in multiple companies based on an old alleged grain misappropriation and money laundering case. NABU failed to conclude the decade-long probe: no suspicion notices were served, courts repeatedly blocked asset freezes, the HACC overturned an in absentia arrest, and Monaco courts deemed the dispute commercial rather than criminal.
#energoatom-scandal #corruption-and-kickbacks #asset-seizure-and-legal-pressure #law-enforcement-abuse
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