How the “Shlagbaum” Scheme Operated in Energoatom: New Details from Prosecutor’s Released Recordings

According to the investigation, Tymur Mindich (alias “Karlsson”), co-owner of Kvartal 95 Studio, used his influence to unlawfully enrich himself by exercising control over Energoatom. The criminal organization also included former adviser to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myroniuk (“Rocket”), Energoatom Executive Director Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”), and other individuals. The recordings also mention current Minister of Justice Herman Halushchenko (“Professor,” “Sigismund”) and former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov (“Che Guevara”) — the latter has also been formally charged by the NABU and the SAPO.

For Energoatom’s contractors, a so-called “barrier scheme” (shlagbaum) was in place: to receive payment for services, companies had to pay the members of the criminal organization a kickback of 10–15 percent of the contract value. Those who refused faced blocked payments. The money obtained through this mechanism was then laundered through a “back-office” located in central Kyiv. Overall, according to the NABU, about USD 100 million passed through this “laundromat.”

During HACC hearings on interim measures for the suspects, a SAPO prosecutor disclosed additional details from covert investigative recordings, illustrating the scheme’s cynicism.

For example, one participant said: “Well, what, no money? Give us money. I said, ‘No way, you gotta do your homework first.’” According to the prosecutor, this phrase perfectly captures how the “shlagbaum” worked in practice. Public reports have already revealed much about the mechanism, but the newly published recordings also reference top Ukrainian officials and personnel reshuffles in key government and energy sector positions.

Who else among senior officials appears in the “Mindich tapes,” what appointments and dismissals the accomplices discussed, and how a strategic state-owned enterprise effectively came under the control of a criminal organization — all this and more can be found in our full report on the HACC Decided platform.