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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Taras Likunov stated that identical procurement control mechanisms operated in both state-owned companies, and former presidential office head Andriy Yermak should have known about the back office of Artem Shilo.
Corruption back offices operating at Ukrzaliznytsia and Energoatom used the same procurement control mechanisms, payment blocks, and kickback distributions. According to former NABU detective Taras Likunov, subdivisions of the state giants’ security services were involved in both schemes. He spoke about this in an interview with Tetyana Bezruk for ZN.UA — “Former NABU detective Taras Likunov: ‘The back office at Ukrzaliznytsia was 100 percent identical to the back office of Energoatom.’”
Likunov joined NABU in the first cohort of detectives 2015 year. He participated in investigations into corruption schemes at Ukrzaliznytsia connected with the former presidential office adviser and the head of one of the main directorates of the SBU Artem Shilo. Today Likunov heads the Department of Service Checks, Interaction with Law Enforcement, and Personnel Security at Ukrzaliznytsia.
According to the ex-detective, as early as 2021 year NABU received information about a group of people who informed Ukrzaliznytsia’s suppliers about the sizes of kickbacks for participating in procurements. While investigating this group’s activities, detectives established how its vertical was built, who made decisions, and how money was distributed. Likunov explained that the goal of the back office was to control the path from supplier selection to payment for delivered goods. For the chance to receive funds under a contract, a supplier had to give a certain percentage to informal intermediaries.
To sustain such a system, a “common fund” was created, from which the participation of people able to secure the necessary decisions at various stages of procurement was paid. “A link” could receive from 500 to 30 thousand dollars monthly, likunov said.
At the same time, some employees, according to him, might not even have realized their role in the corruption scheme. They received additional payments from management and carried out assigned tasks without knowing where the money came from.
Another instrument of control were so-called barriers — the ability to halt procurements, payments, or fulfillment of obligations. This is one of the shared features of schemes at Ukrzaliznytsia and Energoatom, according to Likunov.
“At Energoatom and at Ukrzaliznytsia there were conditions where court decisions concerning these debtors were suspended, making it impossible to retrieve funds. Barriers existed at every stage. Kickback percentages converged and were identical. Both contained a security services subdivision involved in these schemes,” he said.
Based on materials of the Ukrzaliznytsia case, the state’s losses from procurement schemes amounted to 182 million UAH. The interview also notes about roughly 500 million UAH in losses in the Energoatom case. The Ukrzaliznytsia case features Artem Shilo — former off-site advisor to the president who later headed the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence Protection of Critical Infrastructure Facilities and Counter-Terrorism Financing of the SBU. The Energoatom case features businessman Timur Mindich, who is linked to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
When asked by the journalist whether the then-head of the president’s office Andriy Yermak could have known about Ukrzaliznytsia’s back office, Likunov replied: “He should have known.” At the same time, the ex-detective did not provide in this part of the interview direct evidence of Yermak’s awareness or joint management of the two back offices.
According to Likunov, during the investigation detectives saw that participants in the back office, after a threat of exposure appeared, gave instructions to stop its activity, but later decided to resume operations. Some members of the scheme continued to receive money even during its formal halt. Likunov claims that 2023 year NABU managed to stop Ukrzaliznytsia’s back office. At that time, according to him, suspicions were raised about 80% of the company’s procurement branch managers.
Artem Shilo’s suspicion was announced in the spring 2024 year. It concerns events 2021–2022 years when an organized group led by Shilo during transformer procurements at inflated prices embezzled Ukrzaliznytsia funds. The state’s losses were estimated at 94,8 million UAH.
As of November 2022 year in Bihus.Info’s investigation, Artem Shilo, over ten years in civil service, accumulated property worth almost $4 million. He was also described as being close to Oleksiy Tataryov, deputy head of the president’s office, and those who “watch the railways.” Moreover, he is associated with the appearance of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet in Ukraine.
At the same time, before Artemis Shilo’s suspicion was announced, he was dismissed from his post as a chief in the SBU. According to ZN.UA, the president Volodymyr Zelensky personally initiated the dismissal.
In early October 2026 year the High Anti-Corruption Court approved the agreement with the investigation concluded with Artem Shilo in the Ukrzaliznytsia procurement case.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Відкати, «общак» і контроль платежів: ексдетектив НАБУ розкрив подробиці спільної схеми корупції в УЗ та «Енергоатомі»". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
