Andriy Yermak, the former chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is under suspicion as part of a major money laundering investigation by the country's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
"NABU and SAPO exposed an organized group involved in the legalization of 460 million hryvnia in luxury construction near Kyiv," the offices said in a statement on social media.
"One of its participants, the former head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, was informed about the suspicion," it added.
The statement did not specifically name Yermak, who stepped down in November 2025 after authorities conducted searches of his office, but he told reporters in Kyiv that he would not comment on the May 11 announcement until the full investigation by police has concluded.
A journalist from "Schemes," the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, reported that SAPO prosecutor Valentyna Hrebenyuk could be seen getting into Yermak's car on May 11.
Hrebenyuk stayed there for about 10 minutes, the Schemes reporter added.
Yermak was considered to be 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 nonetheless rocked his administration since several influential individuals with links to him were implicated in the scheme.
There was no immediate comment from the president or his office.
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 was trying to leave the country by train.
Halushenko 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, which is now in its fifth year.
