Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on Tuesday, February 17, ordered former energy minister Herman Halushchenko, who is accused of money laundering, to be held in custody for 60 days - until April 15.
However, Halushchenko can be released if he posts bail of 200 million hryvnias (approximately $4.7 million).
Prosecutors had asked for bail to be set at 425 million hryvnias (about $9.8 million).
Halushchenko told the court he could post no more than 30 million hryvnias ($700 million).
If temporarily released, the former minister is barred from leaving Kyiv and the Kyiv region and from contacting other suspects in the case, including Timur Mindich.
He will also be required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Halushchenko said he was dissatisfied with the court’s decision and would raise funds for lawyers to file an appeal, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
Herman Halushchenko was detained on February 15, 2026, while attempting to leave Ukraine.
He is a figure in the “Midas” case, linked to large-scale embezzlement at Ukraine’s state nuclear operator Energoatom, according to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
On February 16, Halushchenko was charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organization that, during his time in government, allegedly obtained more than $112 million ($2.6 million) from illegal activity in the energy sector.
Herman Halushchenko served as Ukraine’s energy minister from April 2021 to July 2025, after which President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed him justice minister.
On November 10, 2025, NABU conducted searches at Halushchenko’s premises, at Energoatom, and at the home of Zelensky ally, businessman and Kvartal 95 studio co-owner Timur Mindich.
Amid the scandal, on November 12 Halushchenko was suspended from his duties as justice minister.
According to investigators, organizers of the Energoatom scheme demanded kickbacks worth 10% to 15% of contract values.
Counterparties allegedly had to pay to avoid blocked payments for delivered goods and services and to maintain supplier status.
The practice became known as the “shlagbaum.”
“In fact, a system was created under which a strategic enterprise with revenues of more than 200 billion hryvnias was not run by top managers, the supervisory board or the state as owner, but by an outsider who, without any authority, assumed the role of a shadow manager,” NABU said in a statement.
