As a result of the NABU/SAP operation, the public saw the internal mechanisms of the current government. Let’s unpack what was seen and heard in the Higher Anti-Corruption Court.
1. Who is Mudra?
This is an important question. It’s not about another green MP, minister, or influencer. In terms of functionality, I. Mudra is analogous to A. Portnov, the deputy head of Yanukovych’s Presidential Administration. This person handles judicial matters and controls the work of the Ministry of Justice. The methods seem similar as well. If during Yanukovych’s time some judges were made to kneel and beaten with a volume of the Criminal Procedure Code on the head, now we hear again that a judge for promotion is “ready to crawl on their knees and take an oath of loyalty.”
2. Why are the images from inside Yanukovych’s and Zelensky’s governments so similar?
Because it’s about the same authoritarian management model. Control over parliamentary push-button voters, freedom of speech driven into a ghetto, appointments to the government based on personal loyalty, judges’ dependency – all these are clear signs of methods of individual management aimed at enrichment and power retention. In essence, this is Anti-Maidan 2. Slightly embellished with digitalization and bot farms.
The opposite, albeit imperfect, model of democracy was also available to us during Yushchenko and Poroshenko times. And I fear that few will remember the names of the deputies of the Presidential Secretariat for legal matters from that period.
3. What is the peculiarity of this criminal proceeding?
The detention of such a high-ranking official who carried out the task of an unidentified person to organize the ransom of the ex-Minister of Energy without verifying the legality of the funds is an extraordinary case.
Now we see what we are dealing with. Dozens of corruption cases of green embezzlers form a complete picture of a single organized group. Just a reminder that the total amount of bail for government representatives over these 7 years exceeded 1 billion hryvnias! Among the people, such an organized group is called the mafia.
4. What could Mudra reveal if she makes a deal with the investigation?
Her testimony may finally conclude the vision of the structure of the state mafia. The instrument of the deal involves not just admitting guilt, but also testimonies against higher-ranking OCG participants. Even if some of them have immunity from investigation until the end of their governing powers.
5. How to escape the power of the mafia?
The main safeguard against authoritarianism is periodic elections. A recent example from Hungary eloquently demonstrated the effectiveness of democracy.
However, elections are impossible for us due to the war. And Zelensky cannot or does not want to force Putin to stop it.
The mafia, sitting in the same official premises with him, strikes at those who hold the front.
I am confident that it is time to change what can be changed without nationwide elections in Ukraine. First of all, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. Stefanchuk has already obtained diplomatic status for unrestricted travel abroad. It’s time to replace this green mastodon (in the sense of longevity) so that rudeness, bias, and above all, complete dependency of the parliament on Zelensky’s will become a thing of the past.
An independent parliament should form a Cabinet independent of the President’s Office.
At the same time, discussions about a Government of national unity should end. After the NABU tapes, forming a joint Government with the servants means pulling one of the four money laundering bags.
The head of the Government should rely on the Constitution, which does not envisage the current autocratic appointment and control. The Government of Ukraine is accountable and reportable to the Verkhovna Rada, as the Constitution of Ukraine states.
The appearance of two new independent leaders of legislative and executive powers will put an end to the mafia-style embezzlement of defense funds and activate dialogue with allies. Only in this way will the Army become stronger, compelling the enemy to end the war and immediately reelect the President and Parliament.
6. How realistic is this?
Ask Oleksandr Turchynov, who was elected speaker in a parliament where 70% were made up of regionalists and communists.
Whether the current deputies have a sense of personal responsibility to the country, I do not know.
But there is a way. And I believe that it’s time to openly say it.
A friend of mine, who has long been in politics, when she sees something that doesn’t fit into any framework, says: “And I just become mute.”
That’s how I’ve been for the past few days — mute.
I read, it seems, everything I could find about operations “Forrest Gump” and “Themis.” Listened to all the tapes released by NABU. Read what my friends wrote on Facebook. And for a few days, I really couldn’t write anything.
Not because there is nothing to say. On the contrary. Because the scale of everything heard and read creates an almost physical sense of helplessness. Enough words have been written. Many facts have been disclosed. And you truly become mute.
But silence is also a position. I don’t want to be silent. Because after everything that has been disclosed, being silent means pretending that everything is okay.
After the tapes and disclosed materials, I have such questions: when did these people do their direct work? When did they work for the state?
Because for everything that the investigation is now describing, an incredible amount of time and energy is needed. Meetings. Phone calls. Agreements. Finding people. Finding money. Resolving issues in courts and the Ministry of Justice. Negotiations with a state bank. Finding hackers. Interfering with registries. Re-registering enterprises. Deciding whom to register them to. Saving their own. Collecting bail. Hiding money. Hiding suitcases.
For those who are confused by the “Midas”, “Forrest Gumps”, “Themis”, and dozens of names, let me briefly systematize the information.
First. Bail for Herman Halushchenko.
Former Minister of Energy and Justice Herman Halushchenko was detained (operation “Midas”). To be released, a bail of 150 million hryvnias had to be posted.
This is where operation “Forrest Gump” begins — as named by NABU. They are quite good at naming things, that’s for sure 😆.
According to the investigation, a huge sum of cash needed to be converted into legal money and deposited into the Anti-Corruption Court’s account. Dubious companies and the state-owned Sense Bank were used for this. Not a private one. A state-owned bank!
According to the investigation, those involved in organizing this process included the then Deputy Head of the President’s Office, Iryna Mudra, former MP and developer Maksym Mykytas, and others.
The money went through. The bail was posted. Halushchenko was released from custody.
Second. Who gave the task?
According to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), Mudra did not just wake up one morning with the idea of organizing a 150 million hryvnia bail for Herman Halushchenko.
The investigation claims that she received this task from people within the President’s Office leadership. In the public narrative, they remain “unestablished”. Unestablished? Seriously?
We are not talking about a person in a hoodie and sunglasses accidentally caught on camera in a dark alley. We are talking about the leadership of the President’s Office of Ukraine.
Moreover, published materials suggest that the investigation seems to have significantly more information about the individual who could have issued this directive than we do.
Therefore, the question is not even whether NABU and SAP can identify this person. I am confident they are already aware. And now the question is much simpler: who gave this directive?
Why does the public still not know this name? What is this person’s procedural status? And how high does this chain actually go? Because this is no longer a question about Mudra. Not about Mykytas. And even not about Halushchenko and his bail. It is a question about the vertical of decision-making. Who gives the tasks? Who executes them? Who ensures the desired result?
Third. State-owned Sense Bank.
This is a separate issue that particularly concerns me.
According to the investigation, to process such a huge sum of money, the issue with bank financial monitoring had to be resolved.
And Sense Bank, I repeat, is a state-owned bank. So, if the investigation’s version is proven, we are not just talking about an envelope to an official, nor even a single corruption deal. We are talking about the possibility of adapting the operation of a state financial institution to the needs of a specific group of people. The bank ceases to be an institution. It becomes a tool in the hands of private individuals vested with state power.
Fourth. Operation “Themis”.
The bail story is far from everything.
NABU describes the following scenario. According to the investigation, this same group could be involved in the illegal takeover of business assets.
Hackers interfere with state registers. Information about company owners is changed. Forged documents are used. After a series of actions, corporate rights end up being registered to people from Mykytas’s inner circle, to his driver, and bodyguard.
And around this, according to the investigation, there are people in the Ministry of Justice, the Economic Court, the arbitration manager, businessmen. And the hacker – the one who presses the right keys at the right moment.
Fifth. Mudra and Nikitas.
Above the state history, there is also a private one.
On the tapes – very close, sometimes strange relationships between Mudra and Nikitas. Conversations about business, people, money, everyday life. About a suitcase with expensive jewelry that needs to be transported and hidden somewhere.
And at some point, it becomes almost impossible to separate it all – state, business, private, friendly, personal.
And that’s where even more questions arise. Not because two adults cannot have any kind of relationship. But because the private and the state begin to exist in the same space and serve each other.
Sixth. Now they themselves need bail.
The prosecutor asked for Mudra to be held in custody with an alternative bail of 150 million hryvnias. The court set it at 20 million. For Nikitas – 30 million.
That is, the people around whom the investigation describes operations involving huge sums are given the opportunity to leave the detention center on bail of 20 and 30 million hryvnias. They will gather them quickly. Of course. And more cautiously. Of course.
And here again, I think not only about money. I think about the amount of energy expended. How many calls, meetings, finding certain people, placing them like pieces on a chessboard, negotiating, inventing combinations!…
Can you imagine the state machinery that was engaged?!
What could Ukraine be like if all this talent for negotiating, finding solutions, circumventing obstacles, mobilizing people and finding hundreds of millions in a few days were directed at Ukraine?
150 million need to be found for the army – we announce a collection. People transfer a hundred, five hundred, a thousand hryvnias. Volunteers collect for months for drones, electronic warfare equipment, vehicles. Soldiers themselves seek money for things their lives depend on.
But when 150 million need to be found to get the right person out of the detention center, suddenly companies, accounts, a bank, managers, lawyers, people with the right possibilities are found.
And all this happens during the war. In a country that is literally fighting for its independence.
And parallel to Ukraine, where people donate a hundred hryvnias, there is another Ukraine. Where 150 million can be found if needed. There is the necessary bank, company, official, registrar, judge. Even a hacker.
For decades we’ve spoken about Ukraine as a corrupt state. Corruption is when an official takes a bribe. Steals budget money. Sells decisions.
But what the investigation describes now, if proved, looks much more dangerous. These are signs of a mafia model of the state.
When there is a group of people for whom state institutions are not a barrier but a tool. Everything they need is fully accessible. And all this is used at their discretion.
State institutions cease to be institutions and turn into tools of a private group. The mafia model begins precisely where the group no longer needs to bypass the state or hide from it. It can use the state as its own infrastructure.
And that is why for me today, one of the main questions of this whole case is not even about Nikitas or Mudra.
Who is next in this chain? Who set the task of organizing bail for Galushchenko? Why do we still not know this name? And how high, in fact, does this vertical go?
Because Ukraine today is paying a terrible price for the right to be an independent state.
And perhaps the most unbearable part of this story is not even how much money someone could steal. But in how much strength, intelligence, energy, connections, money, and ability to achieve the impossible was spent not on Ukraine.
I write the same thing once again: if all this worked for the country that is so hard defending and continues to defend its independence, how strong we could be!
And so I return to the question I started with: when did they work for Ukraine?
P.S. Please do not write about how thanks to the incredible heroism and courage of Mudra, processes are taking place in the international court. Because in this way, it negates what a large number of people were doing before and after her. And she accomplished all this while working at her job. Perhaps you would be many times more effective in her place.
And do not write about Masi. Especially this: “every person deserves legal assistance” and “I do not want to live in an unlawful state.” I already understood: what is not allowed for us mortals, is allowed for Masi and the Rabbi of Kyiv.
Collage: Andriy Kalistratenko/UP
