{"id":36468,"date":"2025-11-28T21:27:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=36468"},"modified":"2025-11-28T21:27:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:42:48","slug":"anti-corruption-units-raid-home-and-offices-of-zelenskyys-chief-of-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/anti-corruption-units-raid-home-and-offices-of-zelenskyys-chief-of-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-corruption units raid home and offices of Zelenskyy’s chief of staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anti-corruption units have raided the home and office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, in an unwelcome distraction for Kyiv officials as they battle to defeat Russia\u2019s invasion and persuade U.S. officials to accommodate their concerns in peace proposals.<\/p>\n

Two national agencies fighting entrenched corruption in Ukraine said they searched Yermak\u2019s office. Yermak, a powerful figure in Ukraine and a key participant in talks with the United States, confirmed they also searched his apartment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigators are facing no obstacles,\u201d Yermak wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He added that he was cooperating fully with them and his lawyers were present.<\/p>\n

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office are Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdogs. They are behind a major investigation into a $100 million energy sector corruption scandal involving top Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n

Two of Yermak\u2019s former deputies \u2014 Oleh Tatarov and Rostyslav Shurma \u2014 left the government in 2024 after watchdogs investigated them for financial wrongdoing. A third deputy, Andrii Smyrnov, was investigated for bribes and other wrongdoing but still works for Yermak.<\/p>\n

The scandal has heaped more problems on Zelenskyy as he seeks continued support from Western countries for Ukraine\u2019s war effort and tries to ensure continued foreign funding. The European Union, which Ukraine wants to join, has told Zelenskyy he must crack down on graft.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy faced an unprecedented rebellion from his own lawmakers earlier this month after investigators published details of their energy sector investigation.<\/p>\n

Although Yermak was not accused of any wrongdoing, several senior lawmakers in Zelenskyy\u2019s party said Yermak should take responsibility for the debacle in order to restore public trust. Some said that if Zelenskyy didn\u2019t fire him, the party could split, threatening the president\u2019s parliamentary majority. But Zelenskyy defied them.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to unite and \u201cstop the political games\u201d in light of the U.S. pressure to reach a settlement with Russia.<\/p>\n

Yermak met Zelenskyy over 15 years ago when he was a lawyer venturing into the TV production business and Zelenskyy was a famous Ukrainian comedian and actor.<\/p>\n

He oversaw foreign affairs as part of Zelenskyy\u2019s first presidential team and was promoted to chief of staff in February 2020.<\/p>\n

Yermak has accompanied Zelenskyy on every trip abroad since Russia\u2019s invasion in February 2022, and the president\u2019s trust in him has made Yermak\u2019s power appear almost untouchable.<\/p>\n

Domestically, officials describe Yermak as Zelenskyy\u2019s gatekeeper, and he is widely believed to have chosen all top government appointees, including prime ministers and ministers.<\/p>\n

Individuals connected to Yermak and the president\u2019s office have come under investigation before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anti-corruption units have raided the home and office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, in an unwelcome distraction for Kyiv officials as they battle to defeat Russia\u2019s invasion and persuade U.S. officials to accommodate their concerns in peace proposals. Two national agencies fighting entrenched corruption in Ukraine said they searched Yermak\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36470,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36468\/revisions\/36470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}