A drawn-out corruption affair in Ukraine has widened, with authorities now taking action against Andriy Yermak, former head of the presidential office. Will the scandal reach all the way to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
On Monday, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) filed a notice of suspicion against Andriy Yermak, the former head of the Ukrainian presidential office. Under Ukrainian law, this step is equivalent to filing charges in court.
Yermak was accused of "money laundering as part of an organized group," a charge that can lead to a prison sentence of eight to 12 years. According to anti-corruption authorities, the group to which Yermak is alleged to have belonged is estimated to have laundered 460 million hryvnia (€9 million/$10.5 million) in connection with a luxury construction project near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Charges have also been filed against six other people.
"This is a particularly serious crime," said SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko at a press conference in Kyiv. "We are currently gathering evidence." SAPO and NABU have also filed a motion with Ukraine's anti-corruption court, requesting two months of pretrial detention for Yermak.
