It is said that the suspected embezzlement leader Timur Mindich was tipped off by a mole within the anti-corruption organization.
Timur Mindich, a businessman associate of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky accused of running a high-profile embezzlement scheme, allegedly has a mole inside the agency investigating him who helped him evade justice, according to new reports.
Mindich fled to Israel with his right-hand man Aleksandr Zukerman shortly before Western-backed anti-corruption agents raided his home. Ukrainakaya Pravda (UP) is among several outlets that have been publishing alleged copies of investigative records collected during the 2025 investigation.
The alleged mole
Friday’s release concerns Andrey Sinyuk, the former deputy head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), who resigned after official charges were filed against Mindich and his associates. He is suspected of warning Mindich about the raid.
In a conversation reportedly recorded on October 14, 2025, Igor Mironyuk and Dmitry Basov, suspected in the alleged embezzlement scheme of 100 million dollars in the atomic energy company Energoatom allegedly coordinated by Mindich, discussed the deputy head of SAPO identified as Andrey.
Andrey is described as an old friend of a man named Oleg – who UP believes to be either the Zelensky administration’s chief deputy Oleg Tatarov or one of his aides – and as an aide. “A good communication that is worth keeping.”
There is no honor among thieves
“Oleg is among those who played with him,” Basov said, according to the article. “Everyone worked with him, ate and won and shared money. It is clear that the structure of the relationship there is normal … manly.” However, he added that he is afraid “This brutality between those people can backfire,” and that Andrey could “play the game twice” by keeping records of “salary” – ordinary bribes – he is alleged to have received.
It is unclear whether the references to homosexuality were meant literally or were used as insults aimed at Ukrainian government officials whom Mindich’s allies viewed as untrustworthy.
Suspicious tips network
Mironyuk and Basov agreed that Andrey could be useful, but said he should be used sparingly and only after a pilot operation involving a service that could not be accessed by them.
UP claims that on October 26, Sinyuk searched classified criminal databases for the names of Energoatom suspects, including Mironyuk and Basov, as well as figures linked to Mindich, such as former energy ministers German Galushchenko and Svetlana Grinchuk. According to the station, the search was entered into the system and later revealed during an internal investigation.
An escape plan emerges
The agency also mentioned a conversation allegedly involving Mindich’s private driver shortly before the indictment against the businessman, which seemed to indicate preparations for an emergency escape from Ukraine.
Leaks of the so-called ‘Mindich tapes’ have fueled a growing corruption scandal in Kiev since mid-April.
