Audit of 60 strategic enterprises: expert explains why this audit concerns only the “tip of the iceberg”
18 November 2025 16:41
Ukraine has launched an audit of 60 state-owned enterprises. This large-scale audit aims to increase transparency, improve management efficiency, and identify potential abuses in the most critical state-owned assets, reports
While 60 companies is a significant number, the move targets only a small but strategically important part of the Ukrainian economy.
Economist Andriy Novak in a commentary
Novak emphasizes that the state owns only 15% of the means of production, but these are the assets that are vital for the security and functioning of the country.
“Today in Ukraine, up to 15% of the ownership of the means of production is state-owned or mixed with state participation,” Novak said.
This critical share includes:
- Energy companies.
- Enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC).
- Infrastructure enterprises (ports – sea, river, airports, airfields).
- Infrastructure that serves them.
85% are privately owned
The economist emphasized that the audit concerns only a small part of the economy. The vast majority of the means of production belong to the private sector.
“The rest – 85% of the ownership of the means of production, both industrial and agricultural, as well as services – is already private property,” Novak said.
The complexity of accounting for the defense industry and the reform of Ukroboronprom
Andriy Novak also emphasized that it is extremely difficult to give exact figures for the total number of state-owned and private enterprises due to security policy and reorganization in the military sector.
“Well, it’s hard to say in numbers now, because, first of all, first of all, military-industrial enterprises , all information about them is classified… plus we remember the process of merging these enterprises into Ukroboronprom, and many enterprises were merged, so some of them… lost their independent legal form,” he explained.
What is known about corruption at Energoatom?
on November 10, the NABU announced the exposure of a corruption scheme at Energoatom, which included current and former energy officials. The criminals received undue benefits from the company’s contractors in the amount of 10-15% of the value of contracts, using the so-called “barrier” scheme to control payments and the status of suppliers.
The scheme involved a former deputy head of the State Property Fund, who became an advisor to the Minister of Energy, and a former law enforcement officer, who was the executive director of physical protection at Energoatom. Law enforcement officers found that the actual management of a strategic enterprise with an annual revenue of over UAH 200 billion was carried out by unauthorized persons without formal authority.
In addition, the NABU uncovered the “Legalization” scheme, in which a Kyiv office associated with the family of former Russian MP Andrii Derkach laundered money through a network of non-resident companies. About $100 million passed through this scheme, keeping “black books” and issuing cash outside of Ukraine.
According to MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the members of the criminal organization identified so far include:
- former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myroniuk;
- dmytro Basov, Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of Energoatom JSC;
- businessman and head of the criminal organization Timur Mindich;
- four people – employees of the back office for money laundering.
At the same time, NABU reported only on searches at Energoatom, without mentioning Mindich or Halushchenko.
For his part, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the need for transparency at Energoatom and the inevitability of punishment for corruption schemes in the energy sector.
