Yermak Corruption Investigation Complicates Ukraine EU Accession Bid as NABU Names Former Chief of Staff Suspect
NABU and SAPO on Monday named Andriy Yermak, who resigned as presidential chief of staff in November 2025, a suspect in an alleged scheme that laundered 460 million hryvnias ($10.5 million) through a luxury real estate project outside Kyiv. Yermak appeared at a Kyiv court hearing Tuesday and denied the charges as "unfounded"; prosecutors are seeking approximately $5.4 million bail. His lawyer told broadcaster Suspilne the allegations were "groundless," and NABU Director Semen Kryvonos confirmed that Zelenskyy is not under investigation. The case is part of the broader
NABU and SAPO's willingness to prosecute Yermak, per strong primary sourcing from both agencies and independent court coverage with no government comment on the merits, demonstrates the prosecutorial autonomy Brussels has demanded as a Fundamentals Cluster prerequisite. That answers Merz's anti-corruption condition more concretely than any reform legislation. The Midas probe likely strengthens Ukraine's accession credentials even as it complicates the May 26 cluster opening. The prosecution may instead be instrumentalized by factional rivals, given the government's July 2025 attempt to strip NABU independence and Yermak's lawyer framing the charges as politically provoked. EU member state delegations voting on the cluster opening will read the same prosecution as either institutional maturity warranting progress or systemic corruption warranting delay.