The newly established company “Vangar” with a charter capital of only 1,000 UAH has paid 37 million UAH in bail for two suspects in the NABU case “Midas” — employees of the “back office” for money laundering, Lesya Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Details of the Bail Payment and Source of Funds
According to information from law enforcement agencies, on November 13, LLC “Vangar” paid 25 million UAH in bail for Lesya Ustimenko and 12 million UAH for Lyudmila Zorina. Journalists found out that “Vangar” was registered in Kyiv in May of this year. The company, according to YouControl data, does not own real estate or vehicles and does not engage in active economic activity. Its main area of activity is the production of furniture for offices and retail enterprises.
The director and beneficiary of the company, Anatoliy Sobol, has not been in contact. According to a woman registered as his wife, she “does not know such a person.” The son of the company owner also could not answer questions about the bail payment for the suspects and ended the conversation.
Circumstances of the Case and Suspects
Lesya Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina are likely to leave the detention center in the near future. During the selection of a preventive measure, the SAP prosecutor emphasized that Lyudmila Zorina owns a car worth more than 1.5 million UAH. Additionally, more than 100,000 dollars were found during a search of her property, although Zorina’s official annual income does not exceed 400,000 UAH, raising questions about the source of the funds.
“The source of the funds is not clear.”
Lesya Ustimenko was unable to explain to the court during the hearing how she lives with her husband, a citizen of the Russian Federation. She stated, “I currently have no income. It has been very difficult since the beginning of the war,” and then added that she earns only 20-30 UAH a month. Despite this, in 2023, Ustimenko purchased a parking space at the address of the “back office,” the average market value of which is 60-70 thousand dollars.
On November 10, NABU detectives conducted searches at Timur Mindich and former Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, who was soon removed from his position as Minister of Justice. NABU announced the disclosure of a criminal organization engaged in “systematic illegal profit from contracts with Energoatom” ranging from 10% to 15% of the contract value. The funds were laundered through a “back office” in central Kyiv, and about 100 million dollars passed through it.
According to law enforcement, Timur Mindich left Ukraine the day before the searches and is currently not commenting on the situation.
NABU reported suspicion against eight individuals. Among them are businessman and co-founder of “Kvartal-95” Timur Mindich (“Karlson”), former advisor to the Minister of Energy Igor Mironyuk (“Rocket”), executive director for security at Energoatom Dmitry Basov (“Tenor”), as well as Alexander Tsukerman (“Sugar Man”), Igor Fursenko (“Ryoshik”), Lesya Ustimenko, and Lyudmila Zorina.
Five suspects were placed in custody with the possibility of bail. One of them, Alexander Tsukerman (“Sugar Man”), expressed his intention to return to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the NSDC imposed sanctions against Tsukerman and Timur Mindich.