Four villas and a thousand hours of wiretaps
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) named Yermak a suspect in money laundering linked to a luxury construction project on the outskirts of Kyiv. According to the Associated Press, Yermak, together with a group of associates, planned to build four private villas and other luxury properties through a network of shell companies. The investigation is based on more than a thousand hours of wiretaps, in which code names are used for individual persons. AP ↗The case is part of a broader investigation that also includes 15-percent kickbacks on contracts at Energoatom, the state nuclear power company. However, the prosecution still has to prove whether at least part of the money Yermak allegedly laundered came from this scheme. At his first hearing on Tuesday, Yermak stated that he "owns only one apartment and one car," and his lawyer called the notice of suspicion baseless. AP — money-laundering probe ↗
The fall of the right-hand man
Andriy Yermak met Volodymyr Zelensky more than fifteen years ago. At the time, Yermak was a lawyer who had started out in television production, while Zelensky was a famous Ukrainian comedian. Yermak became head of the presidential office in February 2020, holding what was in that role the second most powerful public position in the country — controlling access to the president. AP ↗Zelensky trusted him deeply — according to AP, he had brought Yermak on every foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February 2022, including to Davos, Washington, and Berlin. When the corruption scandal broke out at the end of 2025, the president initially resisted massive public pressure to dismiss Yermak. Süddeutsche Zeitung refers to the case by the nickname "Mindichgate" — after Tymur Mindich, a partner in the media production company that Zelensky co-owned before entering politics. Mindich has emerged in the case as one of the persons linked to the investigation. Süddeutsche Zeitung ↗
"I am a sufficiently strong person"
Shortly after the court's decision, Yermak told Ukrainian journalists that he "had not prepared for such a situation" and does not have the 140 million hryvnias available for bail. Asked whether he is psychologically prepared to sit in the SIZO — the pretrial detention facility — if the bail cannot be raised, he replied with a reminder: "I did not leave Kyiv when the full-scale Russian invasion began. I am a sufficiently strong person." Ukrayinska Pravda ↗A shadow over the negotiations with Trump
AP notes that the investigation has also touched other officials involved in the peace negotiations with the US. Specifically, Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and a key figure in negotiations with the Donald Trump administration, was questioned as part of the investigation. The case thus casts a shadow over part of Ukrainian diplomacy negotiating a possible truce with Moscow. AP ↗For Slovak and Hungarian readers, it is significant that the case could strengthen the rhetoric of Robert Fico and Viktor Orbán, who have long relied on the argument of "Ukrainian corruption" in the debate over Ukraine's membership in the European Union. NABU and SAP were established after the Maidan in 2014 as part of reforms supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund — precisely so that such investigations would be possible at all.
What HotInfo is watching
- Bail payment: will Yermak manage to raise 140 million hryvnias, or will he remain in custody?
- Progress of the investigation: will NABU also name Umerov or other current officials as suspects?
- Trump administration's reaction: is the US position in negotiations with Kyiv changing?
- Energoatom audit: how will the 15-percent kickback scheme translate into reform of the state enterprise?
- Slovak and Hungarian political framing: will Fico and Orbán use the case in anti-Ukrainian rhetoric?
- Ukraine's EU candidacy: what reaction will Brussels and Berlin issue?
Also read: Russia intensifies attacks on Ukraine, Zelensky negotiates with allies and faces corruption allegations
