The escalating investigation into a €100 million energy kickbacks plot is now targeting the president’s office.
KYIV — Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdogs on Friday raided the premises of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top adviser Andriy Yermak in a bombshell development to a snowballing graft probe.
“National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s office (SAP) are conducting investigative searches at premises of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine,” NABU said in a Facebook post.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian MPs and watchdogs demanded that Zelenskyy fire Yermak amid a $100 million energy corruption scandal being investigated by NABU, in which one of the president’s business associates — who fled the country — was heavily implicated as the ringleader.
“Investigative actions are authorized and are carried out within the framework of the ongoing investigation,” the bureau added regarding the Yermak raid, promising more details soon.
Yermak has been by the president’s side as the second-most powerful man in Kyiv since Zelenskyy’s 2019 election win. He is a key interlocutor with Ukraine’s Western allies as it resists Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Today, NABU and SAPO are indeed conducting procedural actions at my home,” Yermak confirmed in a post on Telegram. “The investigators have no obstacles. They were given full access to the apartment, my lawyers are on site, interacting with law enforcement officers.”
In the summer, Zelenskyy’s office and the parliament in Kyiv tried to remove the independence of NABU and SAP and place them under the supervision of Ukraine’s politically appointed prosecutor general.
The move, which coincided with signs the watchdogs were targeting presidential insiders, prompted the first major anti-government street protests since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022. With the EU also urging a rethink, Zelenskyy reversed course.
Two weeks ago, the anti-corruption agencies dismantled the alleged criminal organization that consisted of current and former energy officials, a noted businessman, government ministers and a former deputy prime minister.
The probe has mushroomed into the most damaging domestic scandal of Zelenskyy’s time in charge, and comes amid relentless Russian bombing and pressure from the U.S. on Kyiv to agree to a potentially unfavorable peace deal with the Kremlin.
This story is being updated.