Who’s the Stupid B*stard? And Mindich’s Mansions Built on Energy Kickbacks

Wiretaps from NABU and SAPO reveal Timur Mindich, aka “Carlson,” discussing the freezing of a massive Kozyn construction project funded with hundreds of thousands from an Energoatom kickback scheme. The recordings link former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, nicknamed “Che Guevara,” to the luxury mansions, showing close ties between Mindich, Chernyshov, and the President’s Office. While the Chernyshov case seemed minor compared to the broader energy scandal, it exposed how officials funneled money into construction projects. Discussions about freezing work and handling large sums in cash illustrate the scale of corruption and the mechanisms behind it.

“We’re F*cked!”: What was Mindich so afraid of on the tapes?

You might be surprised, but we’ve already done an episode about this, and yesterday the puzzle finally came together. In some of the recordings published by NABU and SAPO, Mindich (“Carlson”) discussed the “freezing” of a construction project into which hundreds of thousands of dollars were poured every month.

And this construction is the same one that Masha sailed past in a boat during the summer. Today, we talk about Chernyshov, who in the energy-corruption case goes by the nickname “Che Guevara,” and about the unfinished massive mansions connected to him — and now, as it turns out, to Mindich — on eight hectares in Kozyn.

Masha prepared an update of her own investigation and explained in detail how the puzzle came together with the wiretaps from NABU and SAPO.

The video is already on the Bihus.Info channel.

“An individual: This is terrifying for me!

Carlson: And for me, not really? Stupid f*ing b*stard. If he gets exposed in the case — we’re f*cked.

Mariya: These amazing dialogues hardly need an introduction, right? Well, I need one.

Hi everyone, I’m Maria, you’re watching BIHUS Info, and today we continue dissecting the materials from, without a doubt, NABU and SAP’s loudest special operation — the very one you’ve all been hearing about for the past three days from every possible angle. The one where Rockets, Tenors, Carlsons, and Shugermans discuss massive kickbacks from Energoatom suppliers and ways to legalize the stolen funds — the one where behind these nicknames hide an entire minister and a certain associate, and in the past, a business partner of President Zelenskyy.

So far, all discussions of this special operation have focused exclusively on the financial side and the disgusting nature of the schemes themselves. General breakdowns of the wiretaps published by NABU have obviously been seen by everyone. If not — we covered it too, back on Monday, when Svitlana collected everything hot off the press. The link to that episode is in the video description.

What caught my attention in these wiretaps was one particular episode, which, strangely enough, doesn’t seem to relate directly to Energoatom or its schemes — it’s about construction. And it’s discussed by Carlson, who, as you now know, is Timur Mindich — that business partner and friend of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

An individual: How is that?

Carlson: Freeze it all, don’t stop — just freeze it.

Mariya: The overall context and details of this discussion triggered me so much that a puzzle immediately formed in my head: “Bingo, I know what they’re talking about.” Moreover, you know too — you’ve even seen it, because I truly believe you’re subscribed to our channel. If not — it’s time to fix that.

So, this construction is also part of a very high-profile corruption case, but not the energy case of former Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshov, which erupted a few months earlier, in June, and kicked off the presidential office’s war against NABU and SAPO.

Now, having received additional details, I can not only significantly update my previous story, not only speculate on whom Mindich calls the “stupid f*ing b*stard,” but also completely rethink that crusade of the authorities against anti-corruption. Believe me, it now looks even worse than it did back then.

Curious? Ready? I am too.

On June 23, then Minister of Unity and concurrently Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov received a hard-fought suspicion from NABU and SAPO — hard-fought because, for about ten days prior, knowing about the upcoming problems, Chernyshov was traveling around Europe supposedly on official business. Regarding some of these so-called official meetings, according to colleagues’ materials, Chernyshov’s team was arranging them urgently, almost a day in advance. Without exaggeration, half the country was watching this event unfold at the time.

It seemed to me that even bookmakers could have taken bets on whether the official would return, because it looked like he had no intention of coming back. Nevertheless, Chernyshov did return to Ukraine. The accusation against the Deputy Prime Minister was straightforward: according to NABU, Chernyshov, while still Minister of Communities and Territories Development, did everything possible to ensure that a well-known developer received a desired plot of land for a residential complex under extremely favorable conditions — of course, for the developer.

The episode is actually just as disgusting as it is petty, especially compared to the current energy scandal. It’s undoubtedly about corruption, but even more so about greed, since, as a form of gratitude for the investigation’s version, the developer handed over several apartments at a discount to people close to Chernyshov.

So there was the suspicion, then the selection of preventive measures, and a sharp attack on NABU and SAPO, which were handling the case. At the time, it seemed like an attempt at revenge specifically against Chernyshov — not some unrelated official for the presidential office — who had been attending birthday parties of both Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andriy Yermak.

At that time, one of the likely reasons mentioned was Mindich, a name everyone is discussing right now. Essentially, an attempt to limit the independence of NABU and SAPO and gain access to all their materials could have been triggered by the Chernyshov case and a desire to prevent the progress of other related cases, including those that already should have involved Mindich.

What happened next? This corruption case involving Chernyshov really helped us produce a story about the massive construction of luxurious mansions in Kozyn, in which the former Deputy Prime Minister is directly involved.

In fact, producing this story — like many of our stories this year — was made possible thanks to your support. So, if you enjoy our investigations and want to get involved, I invite you to join our amazing community. There, we have private chats, early premieres, and occasional offline meetups.

All the necessary links are in the video description. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the community to discuss the new tapes. We’re talking about this wonderful place.

“Actually, it’s over there, where the fence meets the water, and that’s where our plot begins. Well, ‘our’ — not really ours, it’s eight hectares. And the end of the plot is somewhere over there, behind that house, where the trees start. There’s supposed to be a lake there, and that’s the house by the lake. This one seems to me the biggest here, at least for now — two floors, maybe even three.”

We visited this spot at least three times: on June 19, a few days before Chernyshov received his suspicion, very active work was underway here. By July 8, everything looked much quieter, but there were still signs of some activity. And on July 24, we arrived by boat and landed on the shore without any obstacles.

“Interesting, why did everything stop? Were there some problems?”

Yes, we managed to document both the scale of the construction and its sheer number. Back then, it was almost impossible to believe that Oleksiy Chernyshov, even with his considerable wealth, would build such a number of houses solely for himself, spending millions of dollars — and not just for us: we heard many different versions, and I’m sure you did too. The most common assumption was that, in addition to Chernyshov, the families of Timur Mindich and, well, let’s call them, the leadership of the Office of the President of Ukraine, were also supposed to settle there.

A similar hint came from our colleague Mykhailo Tkach, who last month thoroughly revisited this house story. According to Ukrainska Pravda, after our broadcast, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) carried out a second wave of searches targeting Chernyshov and his circle, this time specifically related to the Kozyn mansions episode.

Mykhailo also mentioned that, according to his information, after this, Oleksiy Chernyshov visited the President’s Office for the first time in a long while. Both activities were obviously connected. However, until now, there was no direct evidence linking anyone from the Presidential Office or those close to it — aside from Chernyshov — to this construction. Now, it seems, there is evidence: it has been found among the materials of the current NABU and SAPO energy-corruption case.

According to NABU and SAPO, Oleksiy Chernyshov, while serving as Deputy Prime Minister earlier this year, was receiving money from the energy back office overseen by Mindich. The government official, it seems, was not particularly well-liked there.

Office worker 1: Yes. For Che Guevara. So, where did we leave off?

Sugarman: At Che Guevara. I think, what is for Che Guevara?

Office worker 1: Maybe we leave Che Guevara 100, there’s 90 euros there with you, and the rest in dollars. We’ll just give Vika the normal ones, no big deal, Vika will send them to Israel.

Sugarman: Uh-huh.

Office worker 1: So. Well, how do we (1-2 words) the cash. And this one, well, it’s a shame to give away the nice ones to Che Guevara.

Mariya: Yes, Che Guevara is Chernyshov — just so there’s no doubt. Here’s your photo evidence. So, Mindich’s back office, which handles millions of dollars obtained as kickbacks from businesses working on Energoatom contracts, was giving Chernyshov money — a lot of money.

Sugarman: Look, here’s the situation. $300,000. $200-300,000 — 200 in dollars and €96,500, which makes about $100,000. Well, everything that was, you know, given the situation, is now here. This is… what (n/d).

Che Guevara: Uh-huh.

Sugarman: $27,300.

Che Guevara: Uh-huh.

Mariya: The $300,000 was in February. In March, a new tranche. This time, the residents of the energy back office explicitly indicate what exactly they are giving the Deputy Prime Minister money for.

Sugarman: I suggest that tomorrow Rocket will give something, hopefully 800.

Ryoshik: Uh-huh.

Sugarman: We’ll give 500 of that to… Che Guevara.

Ryoshik: (unintelligible)

Sugarman: Yes. There. 500 will go to the construction.

Mariya: At this point, you don’t have to be a genius investigator to figure out which construction project the money was going into.

Let’s move on — or rather, jump a few months ahead.

It’s July 1. Chernyshov has already been officially charged for over a week, but the construction in Kozyn is still ongoing. Well, of course — if you’re pouring in 300 to 500 thousand dollars every month.

Timur Mindich is speaking with someone listed in the case files simply as “an individual.”

An individual: Uh, look, we’ve gone so far with what you’ve got there that I can’t imagine just freezing it and walking away — everything will go to waste. If we need to freeze it, we should at least finish some of the work.

Carlson: Yeah.

An individual: Well?

Carlson: Same goes for the entire area, you know. We need to approach this wisely.

An individual: How?

Carlson: Freeze it all — don’t stop, just freeze it.

Mariya: The individual is clearly unhappy about this, saying: “I’ve put a lot of soul into it.” But the most important point in this episode is something else.

Individual: For the winter.

Carlson: For a year.

Individual: Oh damn, I’ve put so much of my soul into it, fck… just freeze it and leave. This is awful!

Carlson: We can’t, you understand?

Individual: This is terrifying for me!

Carlson: And for me, not really? Stupid f*ing b*stard.

(whispers) If he gets exposed in the case — we’re f*cked.

Mariya: “If he gets exposed in the case,” — as far as I can tell, the only case that could have genuinely worried everyone around the President’s Office at that time was Chernyshov’s case. The construction in Kozyn wasn’t mentioned in the materials that were made public. But, as I said, it did reveal the trusted individuals on whom it was pinned.

That was enough for us to put two and two together. I already said at the beginning that the Chernyshov case is more about stupidity and greed than about scale — and apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. That’s the first point.

The second — the “freezing.” Between our first visit to the construction site, when we saw intense activity, and our later boat trip there, when the place was completely deserted, only a month had passed. A month during which this exact conversation took place.

After that, the speakers move on to the topic of money. The amount that needed to be paid to the builders matched the sums previously transferred to Chernyshov. It’s obvious that after being served the notice of suspicion, Che Guevara could no longer come to collect the cash himself. Not exactly appropriate — so the issue had to be handled without him.

Carlson: So, we need half a million, right?

Individual: Well, at least three hundred. Two hundred fifty is *** and ninety for the pool. 350 and 90. Oh, 250 and 90.

Carlson: 250 and 90 — 340-350.

Mariya: The discussion is getting more and more specific.

Carlson: And you really need to pay this yourself?

Individual: I need to give the builders one hundred eighty — one hundred eighty for the construction, seventy for the facade insulation, and just the pool…

Carlson: So, you need three hundred thousand, but I don’t have three hundred on me.

Individual: Well, you’ll prepare it.

Carlson: Alright, let’s do three hundred thousand for you on Monday — three hundred fifty.

Mariya: “Facade insulation, just the pool” is also a telling detail. You see, the first thing we encountered when landing on the shores with Che Guevara and Carlson wasn’t even the mansions themselves, but a building that I immediately, for some reason, identified as a potential spa complex. Well, I had a feeling there was a pool somewhere nearby.

As for where Mindich was supposed to get the 300,000 for Monday, I think there’s no need to clarify that.

So, what does all this mean?

One group very close to the President’s Office — I’m talking primarily about Mindich and Galushchenko — organized a massive scheme to profit from the energy giant Energoatom. The money it generated was so enormous that the scheme’s participants literally complained to each other about how hard it was to carry such sums in boxes.

The second group very close to the President’s Office — this time about Chernyshov & Co. — organized the insane construction of an entire cottage settlement in Kozyn, where, as we’ve already heard, hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same energy scheme were poured in.

Now it looks like a puzzle that finally came together. But back in July, it was just an episode, only partially clear to us. The scheme’s participants, however, saw the full picture and, I’m sure, were very worried.

At that time, the President’s Office and the Verkhovna Rada intervened, literally forcing a vote on a bill designed to strip independence from NABU and SAPO — the agencies that, it turned out, had documented all these puzzle pieces.

It looked awful then. Of course — the President’s Office was doing its best to save a close vice premier. Now it looks even worse, because it’s obvious the main goal was to prevent further investigation and the publication of everything you are now seeing and hearing.

On this background, one more detail is important: the houses in Kozyn — four in total — Chernyshov with his family, one; Mindich with his family, two.

You don’t need to be a genius investigator to figure this out, right?”