Operation Midas. SBI initiates two criminal proceedings against its employees

The State Bureau of Investigation will check information about possible violations by its individual employees and their connection with the defendants in the energy corruption case. This was reported to by Bohdan Chobitok, head of the SBI's internal control department, at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada's provisional investigative commission.

According to him, certain employees will be checked under articles on obtaining illegal benefits on a large scale or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, or related to extortion, as well as on abuse of power or official authority by a law enforcement officer, which caused grave consequences. The official clarified that two criminal proceedings were initiated on November 14.

Chobitok did not specify which SBI employees would be investigated. He emphasized that requests have already been sent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau for permission to conduct investigative actions.

Investigators are checking information on:

→ possible receipt of undue benefits by individual SBI employees for access to data on the progress and prospects of investigations;

→ possible pressure on individual officials;

→ possible conduct of searches "by order" of persons involved in criminal proceedings in the so-called Operation Midas, which is being investigated by the NABU.

Other possible facts of abuse of power or official authority by individual SBI employees are also being checked.

"Certain investigative actions have been planned, there are certain areas in which we will work. In the future, we will report to the PIC on this issue," the official said .

Ukrinform reported that the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, when choosing a preventive measure for one of the defendants, said that on the investigation records, members of the criminal organization discussed their contacts with the SBI, as well as the possibility of influencing criminal proceedings through deputy inquiries.

• On November 10, NABU and SAPO reported that they are conducting a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector: it took 15 months, about 1000 hours of audio recordings were listened to document the activities of a "high-level criminal organization".
• According to sources LIGA.net, the corruption scheme to influence strategic public sector enterprises caused losses of $100 million.
• On November 13, HACC completed the selection of preventive measures for the suspects in the Midas case, all detainees are in pre-trial detention centers. However, two of the defendants were released on bail the same day.