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

Lawyer Ihor Fomin, who represents former head of the President's Office Andrii Yermak, has said he considers the suspicion against his client in a case concerning the alleged laundering of UAH 460 million (around US$6 million) through an elite construction project near Kyiv to be unfounded and denied Yermak's involvement in the scheme.

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 do not even need to be a professional lawyer to ask yourself whose money Yermak was supposedly laundering through some construction project.

As far as I am 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 opinion, there are simply no grounds to bring any criminal allegations against him, nor can there be."

Details: Fomin also said that the notice of suspicion had come as a surprise to the defence team. According to Fomin, 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: "Well, tapes – what do we have to do with any tapes? Have you ever heard Mr Yermak's voice there even once?

I do not 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 these 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 involving 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 elite Dynastiia ("Dynasty") cottage complex in Kozyn. According to investigators, some of the funds used for the construction may have originated from corruption schemes involving Energoatom.
• Yermak commented on the notice of suspicion, saying that he owns "only one car and one flat".
• Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, 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 the NABU and prosecutors from the SAPO had carried out searches involving Andrii Yermak in Kyiv's government quarter. Yermak confirmed that the searches were taking place at his residence and said he was ready to cooperate with the investigation.
• Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had dismissed Yermak from the post of 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 said he was going to the front line after resigning amid the corruption scandal and investigative actions by NABU at his home.
• He subsequently became head of a committee established on his initiative within the National Bar Association of Ukraine dealing with 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 the Advocate+ project. The National Bar Association said that Yermak, together with other lawyers, had already travelled to units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in combat zones to provide consultations.

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