A major corruption case against the brother of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak may face closure or sabotage, according to the whistleblower who initially revealed the alleged graft.
Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky’s office has transferred the corruption case against Yermak’s brother Denys from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to the police, Olga Postolyuk, a spokeswoman for Kholodnytsky’s office, told the Kyiv Post on April 24.
The move prompted the whistleblower, lawmaker Geo Leros, to allege that Kholodnytsky was trying to bury the case. Postolyuk declined to comment on why the case was transferred and on the accusations of sabotage.
The NABU is seen as more independent, while Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s police have the reputation of a corrupt and politicized force.
In March, Leros, a member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, published videos implicating Denys Yermak in corruption. They showed the chief of staff’s brother considering candidates for government jobs and discussing receiving money from some of them.
The Yermak brothers have not denied the authenticity of the videos, but Denys Yermak claimed they were taken out of context. Andriy Yermak also dismissed the accusations and lashed out at Leros, promising to sue him.
“The case into the Yermak tapes has been successfully buried!” Leros wrote on Facebook on April 23. “Instead of the NABU, the case will be investigated by the National Police, and Denys Yermak is now a ‘victim’ instead of the organizer of a scheme to sell (state) jobs.”
Miller, a law firm that represents Leros, said that Kholodnytsky’s office had transferred the case after changing the accusations from abuse of office to fraud.
Under Ukrainian law, corruption cases against top officials can only be investigated by the NABU.
Another law enforcement body, the State Investigation Bureau, has launched investigations against Leros instead of going after the Yermak brothers. The bureau accuses Leros of divulging a state secret and interfering in the work of a state official, something that Leros sees as a political vendetta.
Alleged corruption
Serhii Shumsky and Dmytro Shtanko, Denys Yermak’s alleged partners in the graft schemes, said in an April 8 interview with the Bihus.info investigative journalism project that the chief of staff’s brother had received payments from candidates for state jobs. Shtanko said that Denys Yermak received about $100,000.
Shtanko said that Andriy Yermak had received $10,000 for the appointment of Oleksandr Lutsky to the State Geography and Cadastre Service. Lutsky did not respond to a request for comment.
Shtanko said that Denys Yermak had constantly talked to his brother Andriy about their negotiations with candidates. Shumsky said the whole scheme had been initiated by Andriy Yermak.
Shumsky and Shtanko also confirmed meetings in which Denys Yermak discussed cracking down on the business of Danish logistics company MAERSK and Ukrainian logistics firm TIS. In the videos, Yermak says that he needs to do this to promote the interests of KTL Ukraine, a local subsidiary of Turkish logistics company Kinay.
KTL Ukraine denied cooperating with Yermak in the alleged scheme.
Kholodnytsky controversies
The Anti-Corruption Action Center and other civic activists have accused Kholodnytsky of blocking numerous corruption cases, which he denies.
In 2018, Kholodnytsky’s office closed a Hr 14 million embezzlement case against Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s son Oleksandr. The decision was made despite the fact that the NABU investigated video footage in which Oleksandr Avakov can be seen and heard negotiating the corrupt deal.
Oleksandr Avakov denies the accusations of wrongdoing.
In April 2018, the NABU also released audio recordings in which Kholodnytsky is heard pressuring anti-corruption prosecutors and courts to stall cases, urging a witness to give false testimony and tipping off suspects about future searches. Kholodnytsky confirmed that the tapes were authentic but said they had been taken out of context.
The NABU investigated a criminal case into the Kholodnytsky tapes, but it was transferred to the Security Service of Ukraine in August 2018 and closed in January 2019.
