Yermak's lawyer calls suspicion unfounded and denies his client's involvement in laundering hundreds of millions

Lawyer Ihor Fomin, who represents Andrii Yermak, the former head of the President's Office, has denied that his client had any involvement in the alleged laundering of UAH 460 million (around US$6 million) through a high-end construction project near Kyiv, saying he believes there are no grounds for the notice of suspicion served on Yermak.

Source: Fomin during an interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian public broadcaster

Quote from Fomin: "I can say that the issue of money laundering, in my opinion, is unfounded, because you don't need to be a professional lawyer to ask yourself whose money Yermak was supposedly laundering through some construction project.

As far as I'm concerned, this whole situation has been provoked by public pressure. In my entire career, I have never encountered such pressure, including pressure on law enforcement agencies, to have Mr Yermak served with a notice of suspicion.

In my view there are simply no grounds to bring any criminal allegations against him, nor can there be."

Details: Fomin also noted that the notice of suspicion had come as a surprise to the defence team. He said the defence would continue to provide legal assessments of the actions taken in the case.

In addition, the lawyer denied any connection between Yermak and the so-called Mindich tapes and said he did not understand what recordings were being referred to.

Quote from Fomin: "The tapes – what do we have to do with any tapes? Have you heard Mr Yermak's voice on them even once?

I don't know who is being discussed there or how authentic those tapes are. I genuinely do not understand what this is about.

We can see that some kind of campaign is taking place ahead of certain procedural actions. I cannot understand whether this campaign is being orchestrated in order to trigger those procedural actions, or whether it has been coordinated.

It is difficult for me to say, but I do see a certain pattern where, instead of investigating a case and bringing charges as required by law, there is an entire wave of information leaks ahead of actions that legally should not be leaked at all."

Previously:

• The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) conducted investigative actions in respect of Andrii Yermak on the evening of 11 May.
• Later, Yermak was formally served with a notice of suspicion in a case concerning the alleged laundering of UAH 460 million during the construction of the high-end Dynastiia ("Dynasty") housing complex in Kozyn, near Kyiv. According to investigators, some of the funds used for the construction may have originated from corruption schemes at Energoatom.
• Yermak has commented on the notice of suspicion, saying that he owns "only one car and one apartment".
• Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, has also commented on the case, saying that "this context has existed for a long time, so there is nothing surprising about it".

Background:

• On 28 November 2025, Ukrainska Pravda reported that detectives from NABU and prosecutors from SAPO had carried out searches at Andrii Yermak's office in Kyiv's government quarter. Yermak confirmed that the searches were taking place and said he was ready to cooperate with the investigation.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later announced that Yermak had stepped down as head of the President's Office. On 2 January, Zelenskyy appointed Kyrylo Budanov, head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, as the new head of the President's Office.
• Yermak later declared that he was going to the front line after resigning amid the corruption scandal and investigative actions by NABU at his home.
• He subsequently became chair of a committee established on his initiative within the National Bar Association of Ukraine to focus on the protection of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine, compensation mechanisms, and legal support for Ukraine's European integration and reconstruction.
• The committee later launched a project called Lawyer+. The National Bar Association said Yermak and other lawyers had travelled to the combat zone to provide legal advice to units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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