Called by Zelensky's opponents "presidential portfolio" Timur Mindych, who is said to have left Ukraine after the corruption scandal broke out, said that he had not heard from the head of state for a long time, and currently has no contact with him at all.
The businessman gave an interview to “Ukrainska Pravda“, a recording of which was published on the newspaper's YouTube channel.
When asked when he last spoke to Zelensky, Mindych replied: “A long time“.
“Unfortunately, I rarely talk to him, now I don't talk at all“, he said.
The businessman admitted that he knows Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and former Minister of Defense of Ukraine. He confirmed that he knew and communicated with another figure in the corruption scandal, Justice Minister German Galushchenko.
Mindich cited the alleged purchase of defective bulletproof vests for the Ukrainian armed forces, ordered by Umerov, the then defense minister, as a key aspect of his criminal case. “There is a big case related to bulletproof vests, but I don't want to talk about it now, because this is one of the important aspects of my criminal case,“ the businessman said.
Umerov admitted that he had met with Mindich - the two discussed the supply of bulletproof vests under a contract with the businessman, which was subsequently terminated because the products did not meet the requirements. Not a single vest was delivered, Umerov claims.
Mindich described the bulk of the case materials, approximately 90%, as a purely “media case“. The businessman complained that he was being accused of “a million things”.
“The media made me a scapegoat. A cool script, a cool media attack in recent years, the media shaped the whole image today”, he said.
Mindich also noted that he knew that he was wanted in Ukraine. He answered all the questions in Russian, and the journalist asked them in Ukrainian.
Timur Mindich is a businessman and producer, one of the co-owners of the “Kvartal 95” studio and a former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Ukrainian media, after his election, Zelensky continues to maintain contact with Mindich. As reported by “Ukrainska Pravda“, the president and the businessman spent weekends together, and in early 2021 Zelensky celebrated his birthday at his friend's apartment. As noted by Strana.ua, the president's opponents call Mindych his “portfolio“ and accuse Zelensky's office of organizing corruption schemes involving the businessman.
A large-scale corruption scandal erupted in Ukraine in November. Several individuals, including Mindych, are wanted, and he was put on the wanted list, but managed to flee to Israel, where he has citizenship. Zelensky imposed sanctions on Mindych.
According to anti-corruption authorities, the businessman led a criminal group that organized a large-scale corruption scheme at the state-owned enterprise “Energoatom“, the operator of three Ukrainian nuclear power plants. The participants in it received bribes from the state-owned enterprise's contractors in the amount of 10-15% of the value of their contracts. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), a total of about $100 million passed through the so-called "laundry".