Volodymyr Zelensky‘s under-fire chief of staff has dramatically quit this afternoon hours after anti-graft investigators searched his home amid a deepening corruption crisis in Ukraine
Andriy Yermak‘s resignation comes with Kyiv already rocked by a major fraud probe into £75million ($100m) energy kickbacks in what has been dubbed the ‘golden toilet’ scandal.
Zelensky, who announced Yermak’s departure in a video this afternoon, is now facing mounting domestic chaos as he desperately tries to secure a favourable outcome in peace talks between Russia and America.
‘Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes. There will be no mistakes on our part,’ Zelensky said in the video.
Anti-graft agencies are already probing a massive energy corruption scandal that has been the latest embarrassment for the embattled president.
Both NABU and SAPO alleged that a group of seven, including Ukrainian government officials, were collecting bribes from the state nuclear power company, Energoatom.
The group of officials are said to have collected 10-15% of the value of each contract given, amounting to £75million that was unlawfully given to the tiny group – money that could have been used to help defend Ukraine from Russian attacks.
The scandal provoked further anger after a former Ukrainian government official said the businessman allegedly at the head of the scheme ‘had an apartment with golden toilets’.
Yermak’s political opponents have been trying to link him to the scandal that has rocked the embattled nation, claiming that either he or one of his underlings is the anonymous individual referred to as ‘Ali Baba’ in wiretapped conversations related to the investigation.
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