The court refused to lift the arrest of tens of thousands of dollars in cash seized during a search of Lyudmila Gogolenko, the mother-in-law of Zaporizhzhia businessman Oleg Mitrokhin, who is involved in an investigation into abuses in defense contracts.
During the searches at Gogolenko's home, law enforcement officers found 68,500 US dollars and 5,000 euros. The defense insisted that this money was allegedly obtained legally - for the sale of an apartment, which was registered through a power of attorney in her name.
According to the materials submitted to the court, in December 2024, Gogolenko's daughter (she is also Mitrokhin's wife) issued her mother a power of attorney to sell the apartment. Two weeks later, Gogolenko, acting on the power of attorney, signed the contract and, according to the defense, received $56,000 in cash from the buyer. All this time, according to the family, the money was lying at her house, because her daughter was unable to come and pick it up.
However, the court decided that such explanations did not provide adequate confirmation of the legal origin of the entire amount. The judges emphasized that the documents provided by the defense did not refute the suspicions regarding the possible illegal nature of the origin of the funds. The motion to cancel the arrest was denied.
It is important that Lyudmila Gogolenko is not just a relative, but a key figure in the structure that the investigation links to large-scale schemes for the withdrawal of state funds. According to journalistic investigations, about $70 million was withdrawn from Ukraine through the Bulgarian firm Viktor Invest , which she heads. These funds came, in particular, from the enterprises “MIK” and “YUGSTAL”, which belong to Mitrokhin and were contractors of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
The businessman himself publicly positions himself as a volunteer, but his activities raise many questions. His companies have repeatedly won tenders for the supply of military goods at inflated prices. In addition, journalists have identified links between Mitrokhin's companies and a number of offshore structures, which may indicate possible money laundering.
The case of the seized cash is being considered as part of a broader criminal investigation. Law enforcement officials do not rule out that the funds discovered are part of a transit of abuses in the field of public procurement. The investigation is ongoing.
