KYIV: Before the revelation of a multi-million dollar embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company brought his name to the forefront, Tymur Mindich was a shadowy presence – navigating deals and moving behind the scenes with unseen influence, known to many, yet rarely spoken of.
Mindich was linked to growing fears over his expanding influence within the country’s lucrative industries, his access facilitated by his ties to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two were once business partners and Mindich’s influence had expanded under Zelensky’s tenure.
The full extent of that influence was exposed this week when Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs released the findings of a 15-month investigation into a $100 million embezzlement scheme involving top officials and Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, accusing Mindich of being the mastermind behind the plot.
Mindich has fled the country, with any criminal proceedings against him likely to be carried out in absentia. Two top government ministers have resigned.
Ukrainian officials, experts and activists contend Mindich’s rise to power is closely tied to his privileged relationship with the president and Zelensky’s inner circle.
“What we were hearing only as rumors now has some evidence,” said activist Tetiana Shevchuk, of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center. “For a long time we have heard that Tymur Mindich is a shadow controller of the energy sector.”
The entertainment tycoon
Until Zelensky’s presidency, Mindich, 46, was just one among many wealthy Ukrainian entertainment industry entrepreneurs.
Mindich was a co-owner of Zelensky’s production company Kvartal 95, named for the comedy troupe that helped catapult the Ukrainian president to fame as a comedian before he entered politics. Zelensky transferred his stake in the company to his partners after he was elected.
Despite expanding his business portfolio since Zelensky’s election, Mindich maintained ties to the entertainment world. Until the corruption probe was exposed this week, he was a producer of the comedy show “Stadium Family” on YouTube. In light of the scandal and his tarnished reputation, the show’s owners shut it down this week.
He is also a relative of Leonid Mindich, who was arrested by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs in June when he was trying to flee the country, according to local reports; he was charged with embezzling $16 million from an electric power company.
Rise under Zelensky
Zelensky and Mindich’s close friendship is documented. The president used Mindich’s armored car during the final stretch of his presidential campaign in 2019. In January 2021, Zelensky celebrated his birthday in Mindich’s apartment during COVID. The two own apartments in the same building.
After Zelensky’s 2019 presidential win, Mindich’s political ties grew.
He was a close business associate of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, who backed Zelensky’s presidential campaign. Zelensky later cut ties with the billionaire and in 2023 Kolomoysky was arrested by Ukrainian security services on fraud and money-laundering charges.
Businesses once associated with Kolomoysky began claiming that Mindich was now their beneficiary. “Gradually, in three years, he became, not an oligarch, but a known businessman with an interest in a lot of businesses,” said Shevchuk, the anti-corruption activist.
They include agricultural enterprises and the nationalized SENSE bank. But, his name appeared most often in association with state energy companies, according to current and former Ukrainian officials, activists and experts.
Ukrainian activists contend that without his close association with Zelensky, it would have been impossible for Mindich to cement his rise.
Mindich “would have never been in politics, never been in a position of power or business without his connection to Zelensky, and this magnitude is worse because it’s happening during war time, and it is related to energy infrastructure at a time when Ukrainians don’t have electricity in their homes,” Shevchuk said.
An alleged mastermind
The case against Mindich rests on 1,000 hours of wiretaps revealing his significant influence over Herman Haluschenko, Ukraine’s energy minister from 2021-2025 until he was named justice minister in July. Haluschenko resigned that post after the investigation became public this week.
While rarely named as a direct beneficiary in official documents, investigators cite extensive wire-tapping evidence they allege shows Mindich exerted control over a network of loyalists who pressured contractors for Energoatom, the state nuclear power company, demanding kickbacks of up to 15 percent to bypass bureaucratic obstacles and do business smoothly.
Investigators allege the illicit funds were siphoned off, laundered through shell companies and funneled into Mindich’s pockets and those of his associates.
These findings collected by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, known as NABU, and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, or SAPO will be central to any future court proceedings.
A possible drone dealer
NABU is also conducting an investigation into Mindich’s alleged dealings with Ukraine’s top drone manufacturer, Fire Point, but has not yet revealed its findings. Fire Point, which develops deep-strike drones capable of hitting targets inside Russian territory, has denied any such dealings.
Ukraine’s domestic drone industry has seen a swift and remarkable rise, fueled by wartime innovation and urgent military demands. What was once a niche sector quickly evolved into a formidable technological force within just a few years.
Fire Point is among local companies and startups that have rapidly developed advanced drones for reconnaissance, surveillance and combat operations, supported by growing investments. The NABU investigation is looking into whether Mindich is the ultimate beneficiary of the company.
Once a shadowy dealmaker, one-time Zelensky associate is accused in Ukrainian corruption scandal
https://arab.news/rgkmk
Once a shadowy dealmaker, one-time Zelensky associate is accused in Ukrainian corruption scandal
- Tymur Mindich was a shadowy presence – navigating deals and moving behind the scenes with unseen influence
- Mindich was linked to growing fears over his expanding influence within the country’s lucrative industries
Terror at Friday prayers: Witnesses describe blast rocking Islamabad mosque
- The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications
ISLAMABAD: A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an “extremely powerful” explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Lax security
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
