The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) informed Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Anastasia Radina about reasons and circumstances of communication between Bureau employees and a figure in an energy corruption case – former advisor to the energy minister Ihor Myroniuk, SBI Director Oleksiy Sukhachov said.
"Regarding why we communicated with Myroniuk, within which criminal proceedings and on what exact occasion – we separately informed Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Anastasia Radina, since this information has certain restrictions," Sukhachov said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He noted that the SBI warned "all informed parties against disclosing secrets of the pre-trial investigation."
"I do not understand at all why we ended up in this Mindichgate and why at the hearings a Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) prosecutor read out information about me and my wife. (At a court hearing of the High Anti-Corruption Court to select a preventive measure for a figure in the corruption scandal, former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, the prosecutor read out materials of covert investigative actions mentioning alleged corrupt ties of the wife of the SBI director with Mindich’s criminal organization – Interfax-Ukraine)," the SBI director expressed surprise.
He recalled that SBI representatives attended meetings of the Temporary Inquiry Commission and communicated on this topic with all interested parties.
"We immediately opened criminal proceedings, because this provided us with a certain spectrum of procedural opportunities. Within these proceedings, we conducted large-scale work, about which we informed the Temporary Inquiry Commission. (Management of the internal security department of the SBI confirmed, in particular, that a figure in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) case – former advisor to the energy minister Ihor Myroniuk indeed visited the SBI office in Kyiv – Interfax-Ukraine)," Sukhachov added.
He reported that since no facts of law violation were established during the investigation, these criminal proceedings were closed in the absence of a crime. "The prosecutor carefully studied everything and did not cancel the resolution to close this case," the SBI director noted.
Answering a question whether he was personally interrogated by SBI investigators, Sukhachov said: "Yes. And my wife, too."
As reported, on November 10, 2025, NABU and SAPO announced a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector, named "Midas." Activities of a high-level criminal organization whose participants built a large-scale corruption scheme of influence on strategic state-sector enterprises, in particular JSC NNEGC Energoatom, were documented.
Myroniuk is a suspect in the Midas case and is held in custody in a pre-trial detention center. During an online hookup at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Temporary Inquiry Commission investigating possible violations of legislation in the defense sector, Myroniuk stated that he was never an advisor to former Energy Minister Halushchenko, who is suspected of money laundering and participation in the criminal organization of businessman Tymur Mindich, who in turn legally left Ukraine a few hours before searches by anti-corruption bodies and is in Israel.
Myroniuk is a lawyer, was deputy head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, and an assistant to former MP Andriy Derkach, who fled to Russia and is included in a sanctions list.
The Ukrainska Pravda publication published three series of audio materials documented by NABU and SAPO within the framework of operation Midas to expose corruption in the energy sector involving high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
