SBI opened two proceedings after the "Midas" special operation: certain Bureau employees are in the spotlight

The State Bureau of Investigation, after the "Midas" special operation, opened two criminal proceedings regarding possible bribery and alleged abuse of power by agency employees, UNN reports with reference to the SBI.

Details

As reported by Bohdan Chobitok, head of the SBI's Internal Control Department, during a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission, on November 14, 2025, the SBI's Main Investigative Department entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations regarding signs of possible crimes under Part 3 of Article 368 (receiving unlawful benefits in a large amount or by prior conspiracy of a group of persons, or related to extortion) and Part 3 of Article 365 (abuse of power or official authority by a law enforcement officer, which caused grave consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

He emphasized that requests have already been sent to NABU for permission to conduct investigative actions.

Investigators are checking information published by the media, including regarding:

• possible receipt of unlawful benefits by individual SBI employees for access to data on the progress and prospects of investigations;
• possible pressure on individual officials;
• possible searches "on order" of persons involved in the criminal proceedings in the so-called "MIDAS case", the investigation of which is being conducted by NABU.

Other possible facts of abuse of power or official authority by individual SBI employees, which were reported by the media, are also being checked.

"Certain investigative actions have been planned, there are certain directions in which we will work. We will report to the Temporary Investigative Commission on this matter later," he noted.

Recall

On November 10, NABU and SAP reported on an operation to expose a corruption scheme influencing strategic enterprises of the state sector, in particular JSC "NNEGC "Energoatom". The operation was named "Midas".

NABU published "tapes" in a large-scale corruption case in the energy sector. And the SAP showed an "interesting artifact" with Russian symbols, which law enforcement officers found during a search in the office of one of the co-organizers of the corruption scheme.

The SAP later revealed details, noting that the main direction of the criminal organization's activity was the systematic receipt of unlawful benefits from Energoatom's counterparties in the amount of 10 to 15% of the contract value.

The HACC chose a preventive measure for back-office employee Lesia Ustymenko in the form of detention for 60 days with a bail of 25 million hryvnias. This is related to the case of corruption in the energy sector, in particular in JSC "NNEGC "Energoatom", known as operation "Midas".

On November 13, the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure for private entrepreneur Lyudmyla Zorina, who is suspected of participating in a large-scale scheme of embezzlement of funds at Energoatom.