Zelenskyy's ex-advisor named in corruption scandal

TT

Published 21.30

 

Andrij Yermak (left) was for a long time one of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's closest advisors. Archive photo. Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool Via AP/TT

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's former chief of staff Andrij Yermak is named as a suspect in a large-scale corruption scandal in Ukraine.

He is suspected, together with several other people, of laundering the equivalent of approximately 96 million kronor through a luxury construction project, according to a statement from the anti-corruption prosecutor's office Sapo, writes AFP.

Yermak is not mentioned by name in the statement, but according to information to the Kyiv Independent, among others, it concerns the former chief of staff.

The suspicions are part of a larger investigation with links to the energy sector and the state-owned company Energoatom. A total of SEK 920 million is said to have been embezzled. Nine people have already been charged in the investigation, including a former justice minister.

Yermak was forced to resign as chief of staff in November after anti-corruption authorities searched his home, but no criminal charges were filed.

Andriy Yermak was for a long time one of Zelenskyy's closest associates and was for a period Ukraine's chief negotiator in the US-led peace talks.