Volodymyr Zelensky’s Gold Toilet Problem

Law enforcement raids on luxury Kyiv apartments, including one bathroom fitted with a golden toilet, and images of duffel bags stuffed with cash have plunged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration into its biggest corruption crisis since he took office, the Financial Times reported.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) this week unveiled the results of a 15-month investigation into alleged kickback schemes around state energy projects. Investigators say senior officials and businessmen siphoned millions from contracts meant to protect power infrastructure, the FT said.

NABU said it had carried out more than 70 searches and arrested five people in what it called a “large-scale operation.” According to investigators cited by the newspaper, officials and intermediaries engineered a scheme in which suppliers to Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power company, were coerced into paying kickbacks worth 10-15 percent of contract values.

Some of the illicit payments, NABU alleges, came from construction projects intended to shield substations and other energy facilities from Russian attacks. The probe drew on more than 1,000 hours of wiretaps and other surveillance, the FT said.

Central to the case is Timur Mindich, a wealthy businessman, long-time friend and former business partner of Zelenskyy, the news outlet reported.

Investigators describe Mindich as a “co-organizer” of the scheme and say roughly $100 million in dirty money flowed through his office, which allegedly hosted a “laundry room” where criminal proceeds were washed through shell companies and layered transactions.

Mindich, who co-owns Kvartal 95, the entertainment company Zelenskyy helped found before entering politics, is reported to have fled Ukraine hours before the operation was launched. Images shared on social media from apartments attributed to him, including a bathroom plated in gold, have become symbols of excess and impunity for an outraged public, the FT said.

Another Zelenskyy ally, former deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, is accused by NABU of accepting $1.2 million in dollars and €100,000 in euros. He has been charged with illegal enrichment but denies wrongdoing, according to the report.