The scheme, exposed by NABU and SAP in Operation Midas, was able to exist due to ineffective law enforcement. Ineffective financial monitoring and problems in the banking sector also played a role.
“Without institutional independence of the law enforcement system, it is only a matter of time before the same back office emerges. It is only a matter of time before a story about the most independent member of the supervisory board is found or fabricated and he is turned into a puppet. This is possible because law enforcement officers can be used to achieve one’s own goals and give illegal instructions. Collecting something, fabricating something, initiating criminal cases,” said NABU Director Semen Kryvonos.
He called on MPs to focus on implementing the EU’s recommendations on reforming the law enforcement system.
To do this, competitive procedures must be introduced to strengthen their independence.
The operation has been going on for 16 months: NABU is processing thousands of hours of recordings, comparing them with financial traces and seized documentation,
tracking transactions and sources of money laundering. International legal cooperation is ongoing to establish the routes and final destination of the money. Despite this, the Financial Monitoring Service has not yet provided any reports, although it should be one of the key elements in the fight against corruption.
Detectives emphasized that the decision not to publish new records was not related to political or external pressure: only information that had been fully confirmed was made public.
Opaque energy regulation, weak financial monitoring, the absence of competitive procedures, and the general inefficiency of the law enforcement system created conditions in which the scheme could operate for years. Without institutional changes, he said, such schemes would inevitably be repeated.
“Energy is the most opaque sector in terms of regulation, given the number of schemes in this area of the economy,” Kryvonos said.
In addition, NABU noted that energy is not the only area where this criminal organization is being investigated.