Suspected embezzlement ringleader Timur Mindich was reportedly tipped off by a mole inside the anti-corruption agency
Timur Mindich, a business associate of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky accused of running a high-level embezzlement scheme, allegedly had a mole inside the agency investigating him who helped him evade justice, according to a new report.
Mindich fled to Israel along with his right-hand man Aleksandr Zukerman shortly before Western-backed anti-corruption agents raided his home. Ukrainakaya Pravda (UP) is among several outlets that have been publishing purported transcripts of surveillance records gathered during the 2025 investigation.
The alleged mole
Friday’s release centers on Andrey Sinyuk, the former deputy head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), who resigned after formal charges were filed against Mindich and his associates. He is suspected of warning Mindich about the raid.
In a conversation reportedly recorded on October 14, 2025, Igor Mironyuk and Dmitry Basov, suspects in the alleged $100 million embezzlement scheme at state atomic energy firm Energoatom allegedly orchestrated by Mindich, discuss a SAPO deputy head identified as Andrey.
Andrey is described as an old friend of a man named Oleg – whom UP believes to be either deputy head of Zelensky’s administration Oleg Tatarov or one of his aides – and as a “good contact that is worth keeping.”
No honor among thieves
“Oleg is among those who played with him,” Basov said, according to the transcript. “Everyone worked with him, dined and wined and split money. It’s clear what the relationship format there is normal… manly.” However, he added that he feared “this pederasty among those people may backfire,” and that Andrey could “play a double game” by keeping records of the “wages” – regular bribes – he allegedly received.
It is unclear whether the references to homosexuality were meant literally or used as insults aimed at Ukrainian government figures whom Mindich’s associates viewed as untrustworthy.
Suspected tip-off network
Mironyuk and Basov agreed that Andrey could be useful, but said he should be used sparingly and only after a test operation involving a service that could not be traced back to them.
UP claims that on October 26, Sinyuk searched classified criminal databases for the names of Energoatom suspects, including Mironyuk and Basov, as well as figures linked to Mindich, such as former energy ministers German Galushchenko and Svetlana Grinchuk. According to the outlet, the searches were logged in the system and later uncovered during an internal investigation.
Escape plan emerges
The outlet also cited conversations allegedly involving Mindich’s personal driver shortly before charges were filed against the businessman, which appeared to point to preparations for an emergency escape from Ukraine.
The leaks of the so-called ‘Mindich tapes’ have fueled a growing corruption scandal in Kiev since mid-April.