Ruslan Magamedrasulov in court (Photo: Maksym Kamenev / Graty)

Ruslan Magamedrasulov, a detective with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, said regarding operation Midas, which exposed large-scale corruption in the energy sector, that this and other cases were originally planned for the Ministry of Defense. The law enforcement officer said this in an interview with the Anti-Corruption Action Center.

"In general, the first goal of implementing all these projects, including Midas, was to document corruption in the Defense Ministry. There are certain signs that link these people to this particular activity," Magamedrasulov said.

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At the same time, the detective reminded us that he had only recently been released from the pre-trial detention center after five months in custody: "I haven't even had a chance to sit down with my colleagues and talk about this case and understand what we documented there besides Midas.

However, the law enforcement officer is confident that "if there is something there [in the materials], it will be implemented anyway."

Earlier, in November, during one of the court hearings on Operation Midas, the prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office claimed that Timur Mindich (former business partner and friend of the president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a suspect in operation Midas) had influence on the current secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, when he was minister of defense.

In response, the official denied this information (read more here).

At the end of the same month, Umerov's press service confirmed that he had testified to the NABU and that he had witness status.

Previously, the director of the NABU Semen Kryvonos confirmed that Magamedrasulov participated in organizing the legal tapping of Mindich's apartment.

  • Magamedrasulov and his father, Sentyabr, are suspected of aiding the aggressor state. The investigation claims that the NABU official facilitated the illegal export of technical hemp to Dagestan by acting as a liaison between his father and Russian buyers. Instead, the defense claims that it was actually Uzbekistan.
  • Magamedrasulov and another NABU officer, Husarov, were suspected on July 21, when the SSU and the prosecutor general's Office announced "a special operation to neutralize Russian influence" on the anti-corruption agency. However, the very next day, the Rada voted for a scandalous law that temporarily deprived the NABU and the SAPO of their independence, and on the same day it was signed by president Zelenskyy. Finally, the independence of anti-corruption bodies returned after mass protests and the reaction of European partners.
  • In September, the SSU announced a new suspicion to Magamedrasulov: allegedly assistance to conversion centers in illegal financial fraud.
  • Ruslan and Sentyabr Magamedrasulov released from custody in early December. Prosecutor general explained the reasoning was that the likelihood that the suspects would obstruct the investigation had "significantly decreased". He also pointed out that the change in the measure of restraint was not a justification. Also in December, from the pre-trial detention center came out Husarov.