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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
150 million for Halushchenko: a company with capital 5 thousand, Rinat Akhmetov’s PUMB and money laundering to secure the release of the ex-minister
The SAP is demanding that 150 million UAH of the bail, with which former energy and justice minister Herman Halushchenko 29 June 2026 was released from pretrial detention, be transferred to ARMA. The funds are frozen in the WACC treasury account and have been recognized as physical evidence in NABU’s “Forrest Gump” investigation. The prosecution is seeking to transfer the entire sum to state management, and the origin of the funds has become the subject of a separate criminal investigation, reports “Maps, Money, Offshore.”
150 million UAH were contributed by four companies: Hiran Konstrakt (EDRPOU 45419705) — 87 million UAH in two payments of 46 and 41 million; Tetras Optima (44868895) — 54 million; Skyt Retail (44306295) — 5 million; Pelet Service (45129503) — 4 million. The last 45 million arrived on 29 June. The largest payer, Hiran Konstrakt, was registered in Brovary on 3 October 2024 with an authorized capital of 5 thousand UAH. The director and owner is Olena Sydun. The company, which trades metal goods and plumbing equipment, provided 58% of the bail. After the payments, Tetras Optima’s management changed: instead of Tetyana Lynnikova, the registry now lists Vasyl Pidberezny. Pelet Service is owned by Nazar Boiko.
The central link in the bank transfers was PUMB from Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group. According to Babel’s investigation based on documents from NABU, SAP and the NBU, all 150 million UAH went through Hiran Konstrakt’s PUMB account. Until 22 June the account was empty; then transfers began arriving from dozens of companies and individual entrepreneurs, mostly less than one million hryvnias each. About 50 million UAH were sent to the WACC directly from PUMB; the remaining 100 million passed through the state-owned Sense Bank, OTP Bank and Idea Bank. According to the State Financial Monitoring Service, cited in the parliamentary temporary investigative commission, the overall route covered about 85 accounts in 21 bank, including four state banks: Sense Bank, Oshchadbank, PrivatBank and Ukreximbank.
NABU is investigating the legalization of cash that investigators link to Timur Mindych. According to detectives’ version, the money came through the office of the company Metrobud and a network of structures controlled by former MP Maksym Mykytas, was converted into non-cash funds and passed off as business transactions. As part of operation “Forrest Gump,” suspicions were raised against former Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra, Mykytas, MP Vadym Stolar, former Sense Bank chairman Oleksiy Stupak and former supervisory board head Mykola Hladyshenko. Published recordings discussed ways to bypass banks’ financial monitoring. The prosecutor also read a conversation in which Mykytas spoke of almost $4 million, allegedly left to Mudra under the Ukrbud project. She denied receiving the money. On 19 August Mudra was dismissed from the Office of the President; later a court ordered her arrest with the alternative of bail of 20 million UAH.
Halushchenko was detained on 15 February while attempting to leave Ukraine. In the “Midas” case investigators are checking corrupt payments in Energoatom of 10–15% of contract values. Initially the SAP sought bail of 425 million UAH, the WACC set it at 200 million, and on 12 June reduced the amount to 150 million. After his release the ex-minister remained under procedural restrictions, but on 22 October the court allowed him to remove the electronic bracelet while extending the other obligations for another two months.
On 26 October SAP prosecutor Vitaliy Rybalkin demanded that the seized 150 million UAH be transferred to ARMA’s management with the possibility of investing in government bonds at approximately 17% per year. According to hromadske, Halushchenko himself did not appear at the WACC Appellate Chamber hearing, and of the four companies that paid for his release only one sent a representative. At the defense’s request the consideration was postponed to November. The court must decide the fate of 150 million UAH that passed through 85 accounts, 21 bank and a company with capital of only 5 thousand UAH, while the question of a possible change to Halushchenko’s measure of restraint requires a separate procedural decision.
Unbelievable, but true...
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