On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) filed a notice of suspicion against the former head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak. Under Ukrainian law, this step is equivalent to filing charges in court.
Yermak 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/$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 other people.
“This is a particularly serious crime,” SAPO chief Oleksandr Klimenko said at a news conference in Kiev. “We are currently gathering evidence.” SAPO and NABU have also filed a motion with 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 4 hectares (about 10 acres) of land near Kyiv, two years later starting construction on a luxury housing complex called Dynasty.
Prosecutors have alleged that the site was used to funnel illegally obtained funds back into the legal economic system using fake documents, cash transactions and shell companies. The accused are accused of generating funds from various sources, including corrupt schemes linked to state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom.
A man known by the surname Carlson is believed to have led the group. According to media reports, Carlson is businessman Timur Mindych, a close ally and former business partner of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mindich is co-owner of the TV production company Kvartal 95, which the president co-founded.
Yermak, long considered the second most powerful man in Ukraine, is considered 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 reportedly resigned from his post as head of the Presidential Office, which he had held since 2020, in order to restore confidence in the presidential office.
Yermak this week described the allegations against him as “baseless” and denied allegations that he owned a home 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 he would remain in Ukraine and continue practicing law.
Is Zelensky involved at all?
Some journalists have speculated that one of the houses in the dynasty compound may, through front-runners, also belong to President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom Yermak maintained close ties. 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 SAPO,” NABU head Semyon Krivonos said at a press conference on Tuesday.
But analysts have said the case could still damage Zelensky’s reputation. “[The affair surrounding Timur Mindich] “The resurgence will continue and will not disappear,” Ukrainian political scientist Petro Oleshchuk told DW, though he didn’t think it would have an immediate impact.
“This will be a permanent aspect of how the president’s job is viewed,” Oleschuk said. He noted that both domestic political opponents and external actors may have an interest in making headlines on this matter. He also did not rule out the possibility that the Ukrainian leader could be blackmailed into accepting a scenario for ending the war unfavorable for the country.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Penta think tank in Kyiv, also thought the case could damage Zelensky’s reputation. Despite the fact that the president’s approval ratings have already declined somewhat, he believes there is greater risk ahead.
Fesenko said, “As long as Zelensky is president of Ukraine, he has immunity. Therefore, unlike Yermak, he cannot be investigated.” 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, related to ‘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 written in Ukrainian.