Golden Fingers Exposed: Operation Midas Strikes at the Heart of Corruption

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Operation Midas: Bankova Gambled Until the Last Minute — and Paid the Price.

   Over the years, it has become clear: Bankova’s main communication strategy is to solve one problem by creating another. But the scale of this scandal no longer allows for that approach. Delaying resignations now, in my view, will have long-term negative consequences.

   The main fallout from this saga is that two anti-heroes — Mindich and Halushchenko — have entered the public consciousness as the ones personally responsible for the ongoing electricity crisis. In other words, this scandal has transcended corruption and profiteering from the war.

   With a high degree of certainty, this story will escalate to the international stage. Bankova may attempt to coordinate further actions — including personnel changes — with international partners. Ultimately, it is those partners who will decide whether to help reduce the information pressure or let it escalate.

   Bankova’s main objective is to keep the government from resigning. The opposition, meanwhile, is determined to force the government out on a wave of public outrage. How this plays out will hinge on three decisive factors:

– the success or failure of Russian attacks in causing blackouts;
– the willingness of international partners to help curb the domestic information campaigns;
– Bankova’s ability to manufacture new informational pretexts to derail the Midas scandal.

    As I said yesterday, this story has taken on a life of its own. Each new “twist” will create fresh points of bifurcation. Crucially, this scandal is no longer just an internal Ukrainian affair, and that has serious implications — including potential consequences for negotiations.

We will remind that on November 10, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted searches at the home of businessman and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, Timur Mindich, who is an associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, the person involved in the case left the territory of Ukraine a few hours before the searches.

It was previously reported that NABU and SAPO are conducting a large-scale operation, “Midas” to expose corruption in the energy sector. According to the investigation, the activities of a high-level criminal organization were established, which controlled financial flows and personnel decisions in state energy structures. In particular, law enforcement officers conducted searches at the home of former Energy Minister German Galushchenko and at JSC “NAEK “Energoatom”.

Later, it became known that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had decided to remove Herman Galushchenko from the duties of the Minister of Justice. Also, the journalists of “Schemes” established the names of the persons to whom NABU detectives informed about the suspicion within the framework of the investigation of corruption in the energy sector.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would sign a decree imposing sanctions against participants in the corruption scheme at Energoatom.

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