On March 2, the Appellate Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice upheld the decision of the Supreme Court investigating judge on a preventive measure in the form of detention for former Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko, who is suspected of involvement in the “Midas” case regarding the embezzlement of funds at Energoatom.
This is reported by a correspondent of Suspilny from the courtroom.
As an alternative, he was ordered to pay a bail of UAH 200 million with the imposition of certain procedural obligations. Currently, bail has not been paid, and Galushchenko is in custody.
The decision entered into force from the moment of its announcement and is not subject to appeal in cassation.
Galushchenko and his lawyers filed an appeal against the preventive measure of February 17. Then the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals sent him to custody with the possibility of posting 200 million hryvnias of bail.
The former minister is requesting that the preventive measure be changed to house arrest or a moderate amount of bail.
Prosecutors filed a motion for bail in the amount of 425 million hryvnias. This amount was requested during the first hearing on the selection of a preventive measure.
Galushchenko joined the meeting via video link.
During the court hearing, the former minister's lawyer, Volodymyr Vak, stated that Galushchenko is not the person with the code name “Sygizmund”, who is mentioned in the materials of the “Midas” case.
“But this is not the same person. There is no evidence, no analysis of votes – there are only assumptions. First, according to the NABU version, Herman Valeriyovych was supposedly the “Professor”, and then he stopped being one and became “Sygizmund”. There is no evidence. If the detectives were wrong at first, why should the court now believe that there was no mistake,” he said.
The lawyer also stated that Galushchenko is unreasonably accused of abuse of office as vice president of Energoatom.
“It has been established that Galushchenko held this position until April 29, 2021. Based on the text of the suspicion, it can be concluded, as stated in the prosecution's motion, that the crimes he is accused of took place during February-October 2021, that is, during the period when Galushchenko did not hold any position at Energoatom,” said Vak.
Regarding the bail requested by the prosecutor of UAH 425 million, Galushcheko stated that he did not have that kind of money and requested that his detention be canceled.
Prosecutor Serhiy Savytsky said that Galushchenko was a key link in the scheme of embezzlement of funds at Energoatom.
“There is evidence in the criminal proceedings that these pseudonyms were chosen specifically for Galushchenko and were accordingly used when communicating by some of the members of the criminal organization under the pseudonym “Sygizmund”, and by some of the members as “Professor”, he said.
The prosecution believes that one of the episodes of legalization was that $12 million was “laundered” in favor of Galushchenko between 2021 and 2025.
“The investigation established that from 2021 to 2025, $12 million was “laundered” in favor of Galushchenko. Of these, according to investigators, more than $7.4 million was deposited into the accounts of offshore companies, and almost another $4 million was issued in cash in Switzerland. In order to hide the participation of the Minister of Energy, the former wife and children of the high-ranking official were registered as beneficial owners,” Savitsky said.
On February 15, Galushchenko was detained while attempting to cross the border. On February 16, it became known that NABU and SAPO officers informed the former employee of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – “creation, leadership of a criminal community or criminal organization, as well as participation in it” and “legalization of property obtained illegally.” The investigation claims that he is involved in Operation Midas, which concerns the embezzlement of funds at Energoatom.
On February 17, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court remanded Galushchenko in custody until April 15 with the possibility of bail of 200 million hryvnias. The former minister said he was dissatisfied with the amount of bail and plans to appeal the court's decision.
He also answered questions about whether his family owns the funds he is suspected of embezzling and who pays for his son's education in Switzerland.
“Since 2022, my family has been living in a rented apartment. If we had this money, we would buy ourselves a house or an apartment. The godfather partially paid for his son's education in Switzerland. I will not say who the godfather is,” said Galushchenko.