Detectives are investigating the Timoshenko family's bank accounts in connection with a case involving defense procurement
Anti-corruption authorities have stepped up their investigation into a criminal case that has been ongoing since the spring of 2022. As part of their evidence-gathering efforts, investigators urgently needed access to documents covered by bank secrecy.
According to the agency’s decision, the accounts of two individuals have come under scrutiny by anti-corruption authorities: presumably, businessman Roman Anatoliyovych Tymoshenko and Yanina Yuriyivna Tymoshenko. Detectives are demanding that banking institutions provide comprehensive information on all their financial transactions over the past four years—from January 1, 2022, to the present.
In particular, banks are required to immediately disclose:
- Information regarding the existence and numbers of absolutely all current, deposit, and other accounts opened in the names of these individuals;
- Detailed data on fund movements, including opening and closing balances, as well as financial transactions related to business activities;
- Information regarding any money transfers and transactions conducted on behalf of or for the benefit of Roman and Yanina Tymoshenko without opening accounts.
Why do detectives need banking secrecy?
According to data from Youcontrol’s public registries, entrepreneur Roman Tymoshenko is an owner, participant, or signatory in over 10 different companies (LLCs).
The detectives’ request to disclose banking secrecy regarding his accounts and those of Yanina Tymoshenko for the past four years is likely linked to a large-scale criminal proceeding under the jurisdiction of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and currently being heard by the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).
What is known about the criminal case
The anti-corruption authorities’ need to disclose banking secrets is likely linked to a large-scale investigation, within the framework of which, in the fall of 2025, a judge had already ruled to transfer assets worth millions to the management of ARMA.
According to investigators, the case involves a scheme to launder funds through controlled companies and sole proprietorships that created the appearance of legal supplies of spare parts to state-owned defense industry plants. Investigators suspect that between 2022 and 2024, the scheme’s organizers may have received over 385 million hryvnias from state-owned defense enterprises.
The non-cash funds received were subsequently transferred to shell companies and likely converted into cash. As part of this same case, law enforcement officials are examining the possibility of misappropriation of state property under martial law, as well as allegations that officials may have received improper benefits.
In late 2024, detectives conducted a series of searches during which they seized large sums of cash from suspected participants in the scheme (a total of approximately 9.3 million hryvnias and $7,200). During court hearings, conversations were recorded between individuals who may testify to the suspects’ involvement in the embezzlement of funds.
The investigation is currently ongoing; charges in the case have not yet been officially announced, and a new request from law enforcement regarding banking records from the past four years is expected to help investigators fully trace the entire path of the defense funds.
Also worth reading: how the interrogations of Zhumadilov and Shevtsov exposed gaps in defense procurement: influential people are having dinner in a cozy apartment in an elite building at 9a Hrushevsky Street. At the table are businessman Timur Mindich, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and other private guests whose names are currently being investigated by NABU. Amid the clinking of glasses and light appetizers, they discuss a defense contract worth 200 million hryvnias. “Just have them sign the acceptance form, and that’s it. But that’ll get you a *fucking* call in the face,” businessman Mindich tells the minister, as recorded on tape by detectives.
