Kyiv’s assets-declaration watchdog missed multiple red flags in the filings of former Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko, according to Transparency International Ukraine. 

In an analysis titled “What the NACP missed in Halushchenko’s asset declarations?”, the watchdog group pointed to new materials released on February 19 by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on Halushchenko, who was accused last month of being part of a criminal organization and laundering millions of dollars in kickbacks through foreign banks linked to his wife and four children. 

The NABU records show that Halushchenko, whom members of the alleged crime group referred to as “Sigismund”, hid his ill-gotten gains under relatives’ names via a network of offshore companies and funds. The newly released materials also indicate that Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) missed notable indicators of his illicit behavior, TI-Ukraine said. 

While NACP conducted “full” reviews of Halushchenko’s 2021 and 2024 declarations, the reviews were automated rather than manual and produced “no results at all,” TI-Ukraine said. 

“Halushchenko’s case looks like yet another confirmation that the NACP must update its approach,” the watchdog organization said. 

To launder the kickback payments, Halushchenko used three companies registered via offshore jurisdictions in the Marshall Islands. The companies became part of a trust registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis and were used to invest in a fund in Anguilla, TI-Ukraine said. 

Halushchenko listed his ex-wife and four children as the beneficial owners of the offshore firms but failed to disclose any of his children’s assets, the advocacy group said. The concealment of assets through relatives and close associates is a common red flag in money laundering, and declaring the assets of minor children is required under the law, TI-Ukraine noted.

Halushchenko separately declared some of the assets held under his then-wife’s name but failed to disclose her beneficial ownership in the offshore firms, according to the analysis. 

“If Halushchenko’s declarations had been selected for a manual review not limited to registry cross-checking, agency staff could at minimum have sent follow-up requests both to the declarant and to national and international authorities,” TI-Ukraine said. 

NABU officials later established that, between 2021 and 2025, a total of $12 million was laundered for the benefit of “Sigismund” and his family, with funds largely held in foreign accounts. The analysis said some of the money was used for family expenses, including costly education in Switzerland, medical services at a clinic owned by an alleged participant in the scheme nicknamed “Sugarman”, and purchases of designer clothing in Kyiv.

Read more at Transparency International Ukraine