Why is NABU massively arresting gadgets of officials associated with the “Big Construction” project?
On June 27, online media news feeds were full of news: “NABU detained the ex-curator of the “Big Construction”, “They came to Kirill Tymoshenko with searches in the case of leaks from NABU”... Towards the evening of the same day, the culprit of the information hype, Kirill Tymoshenko, through his Telegram distributed the portion reassuringly: “The sensation is cancelled! I confirm that a search was carried out at my place in connection with a case to which I have nothing to do. I fulfilled all the requirements of law enforcement officers, there are no complaints against me personally.”
The name of the former deputy head of the Office of the President, and now adviser to the Minister of Defense, appears in a high-profile criminal investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau related to the leak of internal documents on checking the use of budget funds for the presidential project “Big Construction”. Since June 2020, Kirill Tymoshenko has headed the Coordination Council for the implementation of the “Big Construction” program. This is a consultative and advisory body under President Vladimir Zelensky, which included, among other things, three ministers (infrastructure, community and territorial development, and health care) and the head of Ukravtodor. According to media reports, before the start of Russia’s large-scale military attack on Ukraine, more than 200 billion UAH were allocated for road repairs as part of the “Great Construction”.
Three "musketeers" in Kirill Timoshenko's laptop
After the search, NABU went to court to seize the seized property of Kirill Tymoshenko. In court, the detective clearly noted: “Tymoshenko’s involvement in the circumstances of criminal offenses has been established.” However, NABU is in no hurry to say “B” after “A” - to hand over the suspicion to the former curator of “Big Construction”. There is probably an evidence problem.
In January 2023, Kirill Tymoshenko “resigned” from the Office of the President in the midst of a scandal about possible embezzlement of money on the construction of roads in the Dnepropetrovsk region. At that time, the high-profile case was conducted by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. The former deputy head of the Office proudly came out in public again in September last year: he became the winner of a legal battle with the NAPC, which suspected him of corruption. And since March 2024, Kirill Timoshenko has been on the staff of advisers to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Having received the go-ahead from the High Anti-Corruption Court to search Kirill Tymoshenko’s car and apartment, the said investigative action was carried out nine days after the resolution was issued. NABU detectives were interested in documents in paper and electronic form on financial and economic relations between customers and contractors (subcontractors), organizations performing repair and construction work within the framework of “Big Construction”; correspondence with representatives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and persons whose names are hidden in most court decisions.
A brief summary of the search: The High Anti-Corruption Court seized a MacBook laptop, an Apple iPad tablet, and two iPhone 15 phones. Tymoshenko’s lawyers managed to recapture only the Apple G8 laptop from NABU detectives.
The “Commander in Chief” managed to obtain a ruling from the Anti-Corruption Court, which illustrates who, besides Tymoshenko, NABU is hunting for. In particular, law enforcement officers found the mentioned MacBook turned on in Tymoshenko’s house. Already there, NABU detectives made a copy of the media, and also used a search using the keywords: “birkadze”, “berkadze”, “kubrakov”, “golik”, “golik”.
Now let’s learn more about the names of people who aroused NABU’s interest in Kirill Tymoshenko’s laptop.
Alexander Kubrakov was until recently Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction and Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure. With President Zelensky coming to power, this official demonstrated an incredible rise in his career: from an ordinary people’s deputy from the Servant of the People party, Kubrakov immediately rose to the chair of the head of Ukravtodor. Next was the position of Minister of Infrastructure and, finally, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the mega-Ministry for the Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure. Kubrakov’s “star” fell from this height in the spring of 2024, when the Verkhovna Rada fired him at the instigation of Bankova.
Yuri Golik is the shadow curator of the “Big Construction” project, a freelance adviser to the former head of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Reznichenko. At the same time, being an adviser to Prime Minister Alexei Goncharuk, Golik made efforts to ensure that the idea of “Great Construction” was a “personal project” of the newly elected President Vladimir Zelensky. In one of his interviews, Golik admitted that already during Covid, road repairs had sagged somewhat, so they had to create a Coordination Council headed by Kirill Tymoshenko, “to direct the project in the right direction.”
Georgy Birkadze is the third character that NABU is interested in. Birkadze is the former head of the Brovary district state administration, and now a businessman. It was his correspondence with the person “Japanese Valera” (this is senior detective and head of the NABU detective department Valery Polyuga) that was published by Bihus.info investigators.
So, the investigation suggests that Kirill Tymoshenko’s laptop contains records of his possible meetings with people whose names are listed in the court order. It seems that this information “may be important for criminal proceedings” regarding leaks from NABU.
In May 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau registered criminal proceedings regarding possible abuse of power and official position by NABU officials and their disclosure of data from operational investigative activities and pre-trial investigations.
On May 24, NABU Director Semyon Krivonos suspended his first deputy Gizo Uglava from his official duties “to ensure an objective pre-trial investigation launched into a possible information leak.” The head will not have influence on a number of divisions of the anti-corruption agency until the end of July.
In July, the first deputy director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Gizo Uglava, said that he had successfully passed a lie detector test. And he assured: NABU is not involved in leaking information about the progress of investigations in criminal cases.
The head of the parliamentary committee on anti-corruption policy, Anastasia Radina, noted that by August 15, NABU must report the results of investigations into the “leaks” of information from the Bureau’s cases. If the anti-corruption agency is unable to cleanse itself, then deputies will be forced to “propose other legislative changes designed to restore confidence in the body.” In particular, some NABU employees may be recertified.
Phones are a source of incriminating evidence
On the same day as Kirill Tymoshenko, the ideologist of “Great Construction” Yuri Golik also had a series of searches. According to the case materials, NABU officers had to knock down doors to get into the house where the defendant lives. Already inside, an iPhone mobile phone and an Apple laptop were found, which were subsequently seized by the court.
In addition, the anti-corruption court arrested another iPhone and three Wi-Fi routers that belong to Yuri Golik. The said property was found in a Mercedes-Benz V 300D, 2021, used by the man. The real owner of the car is Programmatic Media Group LLC. Previously, the media recorded how the former chairman of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Valentin Reznichenko, and his girlfriend Yana Khlanta were riding in a luxurious Horny Panamera, which also belonged to the same company - Programmatic Media Group. The largest advertising partner of this company is Yuriy Golik’s Modern Media Technologies LLC, to which Programmatic ordered the placement of materials on the Internet for UAH 3 million in 2021. Another interesting coincidence: the co-founder of the “Programmatic Media Group” and “Modern Media Technologies” enterprises was once a Kiev resident Vladimir Pakholyuk.
As Glavkom wrote, last year the court already seized two iPhones and Yuriy Golik’s laptop as part of criminal proceedings regarding ineffective spending of funds on roads in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The phones were sent for examination, which later confirmed: Golik was well acquainted with the progress of the criminal case involving road repairs. This was the reason for the emergence of criminal proceedings on leaks from NABU.
The next examination will show how valuable the information from Golik’s newly arrested IPhone is for the investigation.
In the meantime, after two months of investigating the case of “leaks”, NABU has nothing much to boast about...
