Timur Mindich, a figure in the NABU case on embezzlement of state funds, is currently in Austria. This was reported by media outlets on Friday. The news surfaced amid multiple mentions by MPs and activists suggesting that the possible serving of a notice of suspicion to Mindich may have triggered a chain reaction, including the curtailing of the powers of the SAPO and NABU.
Over the past week, EMPR.media has repeatedly mentioned Timur Mindich in its publications – a controversial businessman, political consultant, and a person close to President Zelenskyy.
So who exactly is Mindich, and why is so much happening around him? Censor.NET tried to find out. Below we publish the full text of the investigation. Grab some popcorn.
Almost Kolomoiskyi’s Son-in-Law and Messenger
Timur Mindich first appeared in political news, more or less by chance, in April 2018. Journalist Mykhailo Tkach was filming a report on Ihor Kolomoiskyi’s life in Switzerland and how the oligarch was building ties with President Petro Poroshenko’s circle — meeting with, for example, former Presidential Administration head Borys Lozhkin and then-Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko. One part of the report focused on Kolomoyskyi’s birthday, the location of which the journalist determined by analyzing guests’ photos.
And who was one of those guests? That’s right — Timur Mindich, Kolomoyskyi’s partner in certain business ventures and one of the co-owners of Kvartal 95.
From 2018 to 2019, Mindich was repeatedly spotted by journalists during trips to visit Kolomoyskyi in Israel, and even then he was called a liaison between the future president and the oligarch.
In May, oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi returned to Ukraine from Israel accompanied by Andriy Shypko, a deputy from the “Vidrodzhennya” party, and Timur Mindich, co-owner of Kvartal 95.
During that period, Mindich was also frequently seen near Kolomoyskyi’s office, including in the company of Mykhailo Kiperman — another businessman from the so-called “Privat” group.
Kolomoyskyi himself, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, calls Mindich a business partner in development projects, who introduced him to Zelenskyy back in 2008–2009. He also mentioned that Mindich could once have become his son-in-law.
Sources from Censor.NET shared a recollection that the marriage was allegedly called off because the prospective son-in-law, let’s say, somewhat overused references to the name of his future father-in-law.
“That’s why the marriage was canceled, but the partnership remained,” said the interlocutor. According to him, sometimes Kolomoyskyi, when talking with Mindich, could even publicly humiliate him by sending him to the kitchen to fetch something.
Son-in-Law of the Fashion Director of Moscow’s TSUM
On August 12, 2019, Ukrainians learned who Timur Mindich’s current wife is.
It became known then about the death of Alla Verber, the fashion director of Moscow’s TSUM.
The Telegram channel Nezygar wrote that Alla Verber’s daughter, Kateryna, is married to Ukrainian businessman Timur Mindich, co-owner of Green Family Ltd (Cyprus), a company in which the new President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was a co-owner until January 2019.
Kateryna Verber is the owner of the Dolce&Gabbana boutique in Kyiv. On her Instagram, there are many more photos related to business life and her mother than of her husband, of whom only a few photos can be seen — mostly from behind.
There’s also something interesting about her mother and grandfather. Her grandfather, Abram Fleisher, held the position of department head at the Leningrad Trade House and collected antiques during Soviet times, so when leaving the USSR he took out several tons of property — something that ordinary people probably couldn’t have done.
Also, the same Telegram channel Nezygar suggested that Verber might have been a possible contact with the Kremlin, although back then only in the context of Kolomoiskyi.
Event Organizer for the President
In 2021, Mindich came into the spotlight due to the celebration of the president’s birthday at his apartment. At that time, the Covid lockdown had just ended, but on January 29, more than 30 people were already partying at the apartment of the “Kvartal” co-owner. This was reported by Mykhailo Tkach in his report.
President Zelenskyy himself explained that the celebration was a surprise for him. He was at home when he was called to Mindich’s apartment, where friends were waiting for him. Besides the actors from “Kvartal,” Andriy Yermak, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, and Oleksiy Chernyshov were also at the party.
Mindich’s closeness to the President’s Office was indicated not only by numerous visits but also by birthday celebrations. For example, he was among the guests at Andriy Yermak’s 50th birthday celebration in Huta.
In August 2021, journalists noted that in the midst of de-oligarchization, the president’s first assistant Serhiy Shefir became a co-founder of the company “Next Line Production,” which would engage in film production together with the Kvartal scriptwriter and producer Andriy Yakovlev and Timur Mindich. And they did not forget to mention the business partnership with oligarch Kolomoyskyi.
However, in February 2022, a week before the full-scale invasion, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Kolomoyskyi referred to Mindich not so much as a business partner but rather as a “debtor.” At the same time, he mentioned that Mindich is the sandak of his son—a title in Judaism analogous to a godfather.
But when asked whether Mindich was a liaison between the oligarch and the president, Kolomoyskyi replied, “He is so obsessed with his own interests that he couldn’t care less about others’ interests.”
From Amber and News to the Back Office of Naftogaz
However, in January 2022, media reported that deputies of the Volyn Regional Council voted to reorganize the municipal enterprise “Volynpryrodresurs” into a joint-stock company. After that, a private co-owner would enter the JSC, which holds the largest amber mining operation in Ukraine and the largest copper deposit in Europe. Meanwhile, a company belonging to Timur Mindich—the Kyiv-based LLC “Izumrud Plant”—claimed a debt repayment of UAH 62 million from the Volyn municipal authorities.
Currently, if you look at the company’s documentation via YouControl, the situation appears stalled.
Over the years, journalists have repeatedly pointed out that the private company “Kinokit” profits from producing programs for the Rada TV channel. At the end of 2021, “Kinokit” received 9 million hryvnias from the parliamentary channel “Rada” for the development of concepts and new programs. At the time this first million-hryvnia contract with the parliamentary channel was signed, the founders of “Kinokit” had changed.
The owner of the company became Yulia Drozdova, who had previously been the legal advisor for Meylor Global LLP, a company controlled by Timur Mindich.
Starting from late 2022, mentions of Mindich in the media became significantly more interesting. He is referred to as a person influencing processes at “Energoatom” and “Naftogaz.”
In particular, the appointment of Oleksiy Chernyshov, then head of the Ministry of Regional Development, as the chairman of “Naftogaz” is linked to Mindich. Just a few months later, there are hints about a back office established within the National Joint-Stock Company (NAC) under Mindich’s influence.
It should be noted that in the early years, energy issues in the President’s Office were handled by the previously mentioned Serhiy Shefir — primarily managing trips and balancing interests between Rinat Akhmetov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi. However, with the loss of trust in Shefir, these matters shifted to Mindich.
A year later, participants in the gas market reported that schemes from the Yanukovych era had returned to the company.
Yet, in reality, these remained just general statements. Even now, some of Censor.NET’s sources say they know nothing about Mindich.
Other sources tell the publication that Mindich “oversaw” the then-Minister of Energy, Halushchenko, and allegedly went as far as assigning tasks on what should be done and on which day.
Theft in Energy and Fortifications
In August 2024, NABU and SAPO announced suspicions against former head of Kharkivoblenergo, Kostyantyn Lohvynenko, and four other individuals. According to the investigation, in 2021 the acting CEO of JSC “Kharkivoblenergo,” in collusion with controllers of several commercial energy equipment suppliers, created an organized group that also included other company employees.
From April to September 2021, the head of JSC “Kharkivoblenergo” ensured the selection of two “preferred” companies as winners of tenders for 11,904 units of transformer equipment and 79,425 units of electrical measuring devices (meters and auxiliary equipment) at an inflated cost exceeding UAH 132.5 million. At the same time, the price of some equipment components was raised fivefold.
In June 2025, the court arrested Leonid Mindich, Timur Mindich’s cousin, in connection with this case. The relative was detained just before his attempted escape from Ukraine.
A few weeks later, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak revealed another story.
In April 2024, “Energoatom-Trading” signed a contract with a private company “Svitlo Group M” for the supply of a large volume of electricity. According to Zheleznyak, the company systematically underpaid for this electricity. As a result, Energoatom lost nearly 300 million hryvnias.
“No one on the energy market knows this company, and the nominal leadership of the company is linked not to the energy sector, but to the Judo Federation of the Kharkiv region,” Zheleznyak noted.
The MP also pointed out that Energoatom additionally allowed “Svitlo Group M” to receive 40 million hryvnias in VAT refunds from the budget despite its debts, reported ZN.UA.
Zheleznyak named Jakob Hartmut — Vice President of the State Enterprise “NAEK Energoatom” — as a key figure in this scheme. The MP also noted that Hartmut’s offshore company has an office in London, in the same building as Mindich.
At the same time, Bigus.Info released an investigation about money laundering in the construction of fortifications. In Zhytomyr region, the company “Navitechservice,” which had previously been involved in reconstruction in Kyiv region, became a contractor for fortifications but actually subcontracted the work further to a shell company called “Reiskvik.” The latter had neither experience nor infrastructure but funneled part of the funds through a chain of other companies. A certain amount of money simply “disappeared” — it was impossible to trace it in the documents, journalists noted.
Both companies — “Global” and “Navitechservice” — have indirect connections to Timur Mindich’s business group. In the first case — through Anton Samoylenko, who shares an office with a company formerly led by Mindich. In the second case — through a co-owner of Navitechservice, whose sister runs the company “Eventus Management,” which was previously also connected to Mindich.
NABU Wiretapping and Disappearance
On June 20, the same deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote that Mindich had left Ukraine. A few days later, ZN.UA reported that Mindich allegedly went to persuade Vice Prime Minister Chernyshov to return to Ukraine.
Last week, after the adoption of law 12414, which effectively destroyed the independence of NABU and SAP, journalists repeatedly wrote that Mindich himself was soon expected to receive a suspicion notice.
At the same time, NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, when directly asked about Mindich, neither confirmed nor denied this information, emphasizing that they announce suspicions only based on facts, not as announcements.
According to sources in business circles cited by Ukrainska Pravda, employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office managed to document Mindich at the apartment at the very same address where, five years ago, the president’s birthday celebration took place.
Sources insist that the recordings may even include the president himself. However, there has been no information from law enforcement regarding these tapes, so it is unclear whether Mindich’s conversations concerned corruption schemes.
If the case indeed proceeds to the point of formally accusing Mindich, it would arguably be the greatest blow to President Zelenskyy’s reputation during his six years in power.
Tags: kolomoyskyi mindich nabu zelenskyy
