Business & Economics
Operation Midas: NABU Executes 70 Raids to Bust Energoatom Kickback Ring
On 10 Nov 2025 Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies moved from covert probe to open action, raiding 70 sites and publishing wiretaps that allegedly show a 10-15 % kickback cartel siphoning funds from state nuclear operator Energoatom.
Focusing Facts
- The 15-month investigation generated over 1,000 hours of recorded conversations among suspects code-named “Rocket,” “Tenor,” and “Karlson.”
- Illicit payments demanded from contractors were pegged at 10-15 % of each Energoatom contract value, a practice internally nicknamed “slagbaum.”
- Searches targeted Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Kvartal-95 co-owner Tymur Mindich on the morning of 10 Nov 2025.
Context
Ukraine’s energy sector has been a corruption magnet since Soviet times—compare the 2005 RosUkrEnergo gas-middleman scandal or the 2014 Naftogaz board overhaul—because energy rents are high, oversight weak, and foreign influence constant. Operation Midas reprises those cycles but differs in timing: it lands amid Russia’s largest strikes on Ukraine’s grid and just as Kyiv courts EU accession, both of which raise the cost of graft. The find of an FSB-branded notebook evokes Cold-War era allegations of Moscow using economic networks for political leverage, like the 1983 Soviet “Yapryntseva” bribery probes. Whether this crackdown signals systemic change or another episodic purge will matter more in 2125 than the raids themselves: sustained rule-of-law in strategic sectors would realign Ukraine’s political economy and diminish a century-old pattern where energy rents fund patronage and external meddling.
Perspectives
Ukrainian state-aligned news agencies
e.g., Ukrinform, official ministry statements — Present the raids as a decisive, government-backed anti-corruption success in which Energoatom and ministries are fully cooperating to ensure transparency and accountability. By celebrating the crackdown they implicitly boost the government’s reform image while skirting how close some targets are to Zelenskyy’s circle or how entrenched the graft is, potentially soft-pedalling political fallout.
US conservative/anti-Ukraine commentators
e.g., The Last Refuge — Cast the investigation as fresh proof that Ukraine’s leadership and Zelenskyy-linked elites are hopelessly corrupt and siphoning off Western taxpayers’ money. The outlet’s long-running hostility to U.S. aid for Kyiv incentivises it to spotlight every scandal, weave in CIA/NATO conspiracy angles and offer anecdotal claims that overstate rot and underplay due-process facts.
Ukrainian independent investigative media
e.g., Ukrainska Pravda, Interfax-Ukraine — Detail a sprawling kickback and money-laundering network inside Energoatom, even pointing to Russian-linked actors and security-service artifacts uncovered by NABU. Focusing on Russian fingerprints and colourful ‘Midas tapes’ leaks can sensationalise the story and shift blame toward Moscow’s influence, possibly obscuring domestic political responsibility or unverified elements.