SBI disputes NABU’s identification of ‘Vokzal’ and ‘Lesha’ on Mindich tapes
Photo: DBR

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) does not consider it proven that NABU correctly identified the pseudonyms "Vokzal" and "Lesha" in the Mindich tapes, Dmytro Mirkovets, head of the SBI’s Main Investigation Department, said at a meeting of the temporary investigative commission on Wednesday.

NABU has suggested that "Vokzal" may refer to the SBI office, located on Petliury Street near Kyiv’s Central Railway Station (Vokzal in Ukrainian), and that "Lesha" could be the head of the SBI, Oleksii Sukhachov.

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Mirkovets questioned this interpretation.

"We spoke with colleagues from NABU, and I personally told them: ‘In your materials, you say that the "Vokzal" is the SBI. But geographically, Energoatom is 300 meters away [from us], while Ukrenergo is closer to the station,’" he said.

"We reviewed every phrase to see if it could be linked to criminal proceedings or an influence attempt. For example, where the phrase ‘Lesha should be questioned’ appears, we cannot identify anyone, because Oleksii [Lesha – is Russified short version of Oleksii] is a very common name in Ukraine," Mirkovets added.

SBI representatives told the commission that the Bureau opened criminal proceedings to investigate possible involvement of its employees in the Energoatom corruption case. So far, no evidence of misconduct has been found.

The investigation confirmed that defendants did visit the administrative building of the SBI central office. The Bureau says it knows the purpose of these visits, the topics discussed, and the circle of people involved. For example, one suspect visited to discuss criminal proceedings against a former subordinate during his tenure at the State Property Fund. The conversation was not documented because no materially relevant information was provided.

  • The Mindich tapes — named after businessman Timur Mindich — are wiretaps conducted by NABU detectives during the investigation of corruption at Energoatom. Suspecting possible surveillance, participants used pseudonyms in their conversations. The main suspect, for instance, was called "Carlson," while others used names such as "Rocket," "Tenor," or "Sugarman." Pseudonyms were also used for third parties, such as "Sigismund" and "Professor" (former Minister of Justice) or "Che Guevara" (former Deputy Prime Minister).