Ukrainian prosecutors are seeking the detention of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's former chief of staff Andriy Yermak pending further investigation in a graft case that has rocked Kyiv as the country battles against a full-scale Russian invasion, now in its fifth year.
Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) head Oleksandr Klymenko told a press conference on May 12 that the office would request that Yermak be held in custody or pay bail of 180 million hryvnyas ($4.1 million). A prosecutor made the request at a Kyiv court hearing later in the day.
The hearing, attended by Yermak, was then adjourned until May 13.
At the same press conference, the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Semen Kryvonos, said that Zelenskyy himself "has not been and is not currently a subject of the pretrial investigation" that led to a formal notice of suspicion for Yermak the previous evening.
On May 11, NABU and SAPO announced that they had "exposed an organized group involved in the legalization of 460 million hryvnyas ($10.5 million) in luxury construction near Kyiv."
"One of its participants, the former head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, was informed about the suspicion," they said in a statement posted on social media. Officials said six other people have subsequently been informed of suspicion, a procedural step that is short of a formal charge.
The statement did not specifically name Yermak, who stepped down in November 2025 after authorities conducted searches of his office, but Yermak confirmed that it refrred to him. In a Telegram post after the May 12 hearing, Yermak said the notice of suspicion was "unfounded."
A journalist from Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, reported that SAPO prosecutor Valentyna Hrebenyuk was seen getting into Yermak's car on May 11. Hrebenyuk remained in the car for about 10 minutes, the Schemes reporter added.
Yermak was considered one of the most powerful officials in Ukraine, but his position had become the subject of much speculation in the autumn of 2025 after Ukraine was rocked by a corruption scandal after it was revealed that funds meant for the country's vulnerable energy infrastructure had been siphoned off.
Zelenskyy has not been directly implicated in the investigation, but it has shaken his administration as several people close to him have been implicated. Zelenskyy's communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, said on May 11 that it was too early to comment on the accusation leveled against Yermak, citing the ongoing legal process.
At the heart of the scandal is the issue of defenses for Ukraine's energy sector, which was pummeled by Russia amid an unusually cold winter as millions of Ukrainians struggled with electricity and heating outages. The corruption scandal also added to distrust of Zelenskyy's government.
Dubbed Operation Midas, the investigation has centered on Tymur Mindich, a co-owner of the Kvartal 95 comedy troupe that Zelenskyy also co-owned before he became president. The business was an important vehicle for Zelenskyy to gain popularity as a comedian and actor before entering politics.
Mindich reportedly fled the country after he was flagged as a suspect. His whereabouts are unknown.
Former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko was charged in February with money laundering charges. Halushchenko, who later served as justice minister, was detained on February 15 by border guards as he attempted to leave the country by train.
Halushchenko was forced to resign as justice minister in November 2025 as details of the scandal began to emerge.
Other government officials who have been sacked or charged in the schemes include former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, Halushenko's successor Svitlana Hrynchuk, and two other former energy ministers.
Zelenskyy has sought to clean up Ukraine's reputation for entrenched public sector corruption, an issue that has clouded Western military and economic aid to Kyiv over the course of Russia's full-scale invasion.
