The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) has petitioned the court to seize 150 million hryvnias paid as bail for former Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko. This was stated by SAP Head Oleksandr Klymenko in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. According to the investigation, the specified amount was obtained through criminal means, and its payment as bail served as a tool for laundering "dirty" money. Prosecutors are demanding not only the seizure of the funds but also their transfer to the management of the Agency for Recovery and Management of Assets (ARMA).

Investigation's Version: Bail as a Money-Laundering Channel

As Klymenko explained, granting the prosecutor's petition will have direct legal consequences for the suspect's preventive measure. "If the court grants this petition, these funds must be transferred to ARMA's account, and it will be considered that this former Energy Minister has not paid bail," emphasized the SAP head. In that case, he said, Galushchenko may again be taken into custody and sent to a pretrial detention facility. Thus, even a formally paid bail loses its legal force, and the defendant reverts to the status of a person who has not secured the preventive measure.

Special Operation "Forrest Gump" and the "Midas" Case

The SAP's petition is a continuation of the recently uncovered special operation "Forrest Gump," aimed at exposing high-level corruption. According to the investigation, a group of individuals organized the laundering of 150 million hryvnias in cash: through a series of accounts of controlled companies, these funds were attempted to be introduced into legal circulation for the purpose of paying bail for one of the criminal organization's participants in the "Midas" case. It is precisely Galushchenko, who is a defendant in the "Midas" proceedings, who is mentioned in the recordings made within the case — the name "Herman" is heard on the tapes. In June 2026, bail in the amount of 150 million hryvnias was paid for him.

Who Provided the Money: The "Mindych — Mudra" Chain

Additional details about the origin of the bail were revealed by an SAP prosecutor in an interview with the publication "Fakty." According to him, the 150 million hryvnias were transferred through an intermediary — the defendant Mudra, who received the funds from businessman Mindych. This chain confirms the investigation's version that the bail was not "clean" money of Galushchenko himself or his close ones, but rather a part of an organized scheme for withdrawing and laundering funds obtained through criminal means. Establishing the specific individuals through whose hands the money passed significantly strengthens the prosecution's position in court.

New Practice: Monitoring the Origin of Bail

Klymenko also reported that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies intend to more carefully track the origin of funds paid as bail for defendants in corruption cases in the future. This statement effectively announces a change in law enforcement practice: if previously the bail amount was accepted by the court primarily on a formal basis, now every large payment will be checked for its legal origin. For defendants in high-profile cases, this means that bail ceases to be a guarantee of release if its source raises suspicions in the investigation.

Contradictory Data

Publications by various media outlets contain a slight difference in the wording of the legal qualification of the bail. In the RBC-Ukraine material, the emphasis is placed on the fact that the 150 million hryvnias "were obtained through criminal means" and their payment "was used as a method of laundering dirty money" — that is, the matter concerns two related but distinct offenses: the initial criminal acquisition and the subsequent laundering. At the same time, in the "Fakty" publication, the emphasis shifts to the specific chain of money transfer (Mindych → Mudra → bail), which highlights the element of complicity and intermediation. Both versions do not contradict each other but place different emphases: the first describes the general nature of the funds, the second — the mechanism of their movement. The final qualification will be determined by the court when considering the SAP's petition.