'Expect charges very soon' — Investigators search Zelensky's closest ally in Ukraine's biggest corruption case
Editor's note: Andriy Yermak later submitted his resignation, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said on Nov. 28 that it was conducting searches at the premises of President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak.
Yermak is being investigated by the NABU in a corruption case involving state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom, the biggest corruption investigation during Zelensky's presidency. Eight suspects have been charged in the Energoatom case, and Timur Mindich, a close associate of the president, is allegedly the ringleader.
"Today, the NABU and SAPO are indeed carrying out procedural actions at my home," Yermak wrote on Telegram. "The investigators are facing no obstacles. They have been given full access to the apartment, and my lawyers are present on site and are cooperating with law enforcement. I am providing full cooperation on my part."
The President's Office and Zelensky's press service did not respond to requests for comment.
Ukrainian media outlet Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported, citing its sources, that Yermak's office on Bankova Street in Kyiv and his apartment were being searched.
Yermak has faced calls to resign amid the corruption scandal.
Despite the backlash, Zelensky has refused to dismiss Yermak. Moreover, he appointed him to lead a Ukrainian delegation in the U.S.-Ukraine talks in Switzerland on Nov. 23 after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a controversial peace plan heavily skewed in Russia's favor.
Experts told the Kyiv Independent that, by sending Yermak as a negotiator, Zelensky sought to protect him from investigators.
One of the luxury houses near Kyiv financed through the Energoatom corruption scheme was meant for Yermak, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent. The President's Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Suspects in the Energoatom case have given money to ex-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov for the construction of high-end houses near Kyiv, the Bihus.info investigative journalism project reported on Nov. 12, citing audio tapes released by the NABU.
Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported, citing its sources, that the NABU was preparing charges against Yermak in the episode involving the luxury houses.
Meanwhile, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent that Yermak had not been charged yet, and the searches were still continuing.
Ukrainska Pravda also reported on Nov. 24, citing its sources, that Yermak is implicated in the corruption scandal, and investigators refer to him as "Ali Baba."
Ukraine's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko said earlier in November that, according to investigators, "Ali Baba is holding meetings and assigning tasks to law enforcement agencies to ensure they persecute NABU detectives and anti-corruption prosecutors."
Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, said that "usually searches are conducted right before charges are presented to possible suspects."
"So therefore we can expect today or very soon charges against Andriy Yermak," she told the Kyiv Independent.
A lawmaker from Zelensky's Servant of the People party said that "there hasn't really been much of a reaction" in the party so far.
"Most people seemed to understand everything already," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Kyiv Independent. "For the most part, there's silence. Only a few individuals have taken note of recent events. Some might be in shock."
The lawmaker also said that "some may have hoped there would be no further fallout, thinking that (Yermak's) appointment as head of the peace delegation meant the end of the story."
"But it turns out that this is only the beginning," he added.
The lawmaker said that Yermak "should have been dismissed a long time ago.”
“Right now, this all looks bad in the eyes of our European partners, the source said. "It looks as if the president is protecting his friends. Instead of getting ahead of the situation and distancing himself, he appointed him as the head of the negotiating delegation.”
He also argued that Ukraine’s political system is "now moving toward the worst-case scenario" and that Yermak’s resignation "could lead to the collapse of the entire power structure, since everything has been held together by the head of the President’s Office.”
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a lawmaker from the opposition Holos party, said that “the president certainly should fire (Yermak).”
“I think that it will certainly change the way Zelensky rules the country," he added. "But it's good news."
Zheleznyak also said that he expects protests and that he hopes "public support is totally on the side of the NABU and SAPO (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office)."
Inna Sovsun, a lawmaker from Holos, said that the searches undermine Yermak's authority amid the peace negotiations.
"Until this issue is resolved, he’s a weak representative of Ukraine during the negotiations, and that’s what I’m most afraid of," she added. "So he should at least be removed as the top negotiator, because that weakens his image in the negotiations.”
Yaroslav Yuschyshyn, another Holos lawmaker, said that two scenarios are possible: either the NABU and SAPO will conduct searches and bring charges without any obstacles, or the authorities will thwart the anti-corruption agencies and exacerbate the political crisis.
"In the first scenario, we have a chance to present ourselves as a European country that has corruption but is actively fighting it," he said. "In the second, the consequences will be much more difficult: public and international disappointment, and, as a result, complications in cooperation with the global community and a further decline in trust in the authorities."
Anastasia Radina, head of parliament's anti-corruption committee representing Zelensky's party, said that the NABU and SAPO should "be allowed to do their job without any pushback from other law enforcement (agencies)."
"I'm happy to see anti-corruption institutions actually able to do such an investigation," she told the Kyiv Independent. "As shocked as we might be, I think it's also important to stress that we finally have these anti-corruption institutions able to probe into people regardless of their position and political standing. This is something Ukraine didn’t have 10 years ago."
Oleksiy Honcharenko, a lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity party, said that Yermak should be suspended after the searches and fired if he is charged.
"These are tectonic shifts in our current political system because Yermak plays a crucial role there," he added. "He's not the main beneficiary in all this — Zelensky is. But Yermak is his key ally in running everything."
