Forest Gump” Operation in Ukraine: NABU Searches Properties Linked to Officials, Lawmakers and Sense Bank

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has launched a wide-ranging investigation codenamed “Forest Gump”, involving premises linked to senior presidential officials, current and former lawmakers, as well as the state-owned Sense Bank.

According to a law-enforcement source cited by the Kyiv Independent, searches were carried out at properties linked to Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the presidential office, and lawmaker Vadym Stolar.

Investigators also searched premises linked to former lawmaker Maksym Mykytas and Sense Bank, a state-owned financial institution.

NABU said it was conducting a “special operation to expose a criminal organization led by a current lawmaker and a former Ukrainian lawmaker, also involving senior officials from the president’s office”. The agency said further information about the case would be released later.

Vadym Stolar confirmed that a search was under way at his residence. In a Facebook post, he said he could confirm NABU’s investigative actions at his home and added that he was fully cooperating with the agency and in no way obstructing the authorities’ work.

Stolar was a lawmaker from the pro-Russian political force Opposition Platform – For Life until it was dissolved following Russia’s invasion in 2022. He is currently a member of the parliamentary group “Restoration of Ukraine”, formed by former members of that faction.

Investigative journalists have linked the lawmaker to several controversial construction projects in Kyiv and to a case in which hundreds of homebuyers were allegedly defrauded during the 2000s. Stolar has denied all wrongdoing.

During Petro Poroshenko’s presidency, Ukrainian media described Stolar as the “de facto mayor of Kyiv” because of the influence he was suspected of wielding in the capital. According to the investigative platform Bihus.info, he also had a business partnership with Artem Kolyubayev, a former business partner of Andriy Yermak, the former head of the presidential administration.

The investigation into premises linked to Iryna Mudra is of particular political significance, as she holds a senior position in the presidential administration. Mudra is Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s deputy chief of staff and oversees justice and judicial reform matters.

So far, the authorities have provided no further details about Mudra’s possible role in the case. NABU has not announced any charges against her.

The searches also include locations linked to Maksym Mykytas, a former lawmaker and one of the prominent figures in Ukraine’s construction sector.

Mykytas headed the state-owned construction company Ukrbud from 2010 to 2016. He then served as a lawmaker for the People’s Will party from 2016 to 2019.

He has been accused of embezzlement in two cases, in 2019 and 2023 respectively, as well as of bribery in 2022.

In 2020, Mykytas’s lawyers accused the police of fabricating evidence in a criminal case in an attempt to force him to withdraw a statement made against Oleh Tatarov, who at the time was deputy head of the presidential administration. The police denied the allegations.

Following the lawsuit and his arrest, Mykytas withdrew the accusations against Tatarov. The latter had been accused of bribery in 2020, but the case gradually weakened and was closed in 2022.

Sense Bank has also been drawn into the investigation, as it is suspected of being linked to a $100 million corruption case involving the state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom.

The investigation into Energoatom began in 2025 and is considered the largest corruption case investigated during Zelenskyy’s presidency.

Recorded conversations, allegedly made public in April and May, strengthened earlier reports by Ukrainska Pravda about Vasyl Veseli, an adviser to Sense Bank’s supervisory board.

According to Ukrainian media, Veseli was seen as a person supported by Andriy Yermak and was suspected of having influence at the bank. Meanwhile, Timur Midich, who is also a suspect in the Energoatom case, was likewise reported to have exerted influence over Sense Bank.

NABU’s latest operation follows a series of investigations into prominent political figures in Ukraine.

In December, the agency brought charges against five lawmakers from Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party. They are suspected of taking money in exchange for casting certain votes in parliament.

Also in December, a law-enforcement source said that NABU had searched the premises of an associate of David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People parliamentary group.

Ukrainska Pravda reported in July that NABU had obtained court orders to collect biological samples from the associate as part of an investigation into suspected cash payments to lawmakers.

The searches carried out today place Ukraine’s presidency at the center of a direct NABU investigation once again. The scale of the case and the specific roles of the people under investigation are expected to become clearer through the anti-corruption agency’s forthcoming official announcements.