On May 11, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) 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. He was charged with “money laundering as part of an organized group”, a charge that carries a prison sentence of eight to 12 years. The group to which Yermak is alleged to belong has laundered 460 million hryvnia (€9 million or $10.5 million) in connection with a luxury construction project near the Ukrainian capital Kiev, according to anti-corruption officials. Charges have also been filed against six additional individuals.
“This is a particularly serious crime,” SAP chief Oleksandr Klimenko said at a press conference in Kiev. “We are currently gathering evidence.” SAP and NABU also filed a motion in Ukraine’s anti-corruption court, requesting two months of pre-trial detention for Yermak.
On Thursday, authorities took Yermak into custody on money laundering charges and set bail at $3.2 million.
Money laundering through luxury housing complexes?
According to investigators, the case dates back to 2018 when a member of the accused criminal group became the co-founder of Bloom Development Company, as shown in a video released by NABU. In summer 2019, the company acquired more than four hectares of land near the Ukrainian capital, and in 2021 began construction of a luxury housing complex called “Dynasty”. Prosecutors allege that the site was used to funnel illegally obtained funds back into the legal economic system using fraudulent documents, cash transactions and shell companies. The accused are accused of amassing wealth from various sources, including corrupt schemes involving state-owned company Energoatom.
A man known by the surname Carlson is believed to have led the group. According to media reports, Carlson is businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate and confidant of Zelensky. He is the co-owner of the TV production company Quartal 95, which the President co-founded.
Yermak is believed to have been a member of this group. Both his office and private home were searched by NABU in November 2025 in connection with the ongoing investigation. Although he was not accused of wrongdoing, he resigned from his post as head of the President’s Office, which he had held since 2020.
Yermak has described the allegations against him as “baseless” and has denied allegations that he owns a house in the dynasty compound. On Thursday he posted a statement on Telegram claiming there had been “unprecedented public pressure on law enforcement agencies” to launch investigations against him in recent months. He said that he will remain in Ukraine and continue practicing law.
Yermak, long considered Ukraine’s second most powerful man, reportedly stepped down from his post as chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky last year to restore confidence in the presidential office.
Is Zelensky involved at all?
Some journalists have speculated that one of the houses in the dynastic compound may, through people at the front, also belong to Zelensky, with whom Yermak maintained close relations. However, Ukrainian anti-corruption officials have denied these reports. “President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was not and is not the subject of a preliminary investigation by NABU and SAP,” NABU head Semen Krivonos said at a press conference on May 12.
Analysts say the case could still damage Zelensky’s reputation. “[The affair surrounding Timur Mindich] “Will keep resurfacing and will not disappear,” Ukrainian political scientist Petro Oleshchuk told DW, though he didn’t think it would have any immediate impact. “This will be an enduring aspect of how the president’s work is perceived,” he said, noting that both domestic political opponents and external actors may have an interest in keeping the focus on the case. He also did not rule out the possibility that the Ukrainian leader could be blackmailed into accepting a scenario that was unfavorable for ending the war. Country.
Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko also believes that the case could damage Zelensky’s reputation. Despite the fact that the president’s approval ratings had already declined somewhat, he thought there was greater risk ahead. “As long as Zelensky is president of Ukraine, he has immunity. Therefore, unlike Yermak, he cannot be investigated,” Fesenko told DW. He suggested that the problems would begin when the war ended and the election campaign began. “Then, all compromising materials related to this case and, more generally, ‘Mindichgate’ can be used against Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Zelensky has not yet commented on the matter. Earlier this week, his communications adviser, Dmytro Litvin, told reporters that “procedural actions are still ongoing, so it is too early to draw any conclusions.”
This article was originally published in Ukrainian.