MOSCOW, Nov 19: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under pressure, including from fellow party members, who are aiming to force the resignation of his chief of staff Andriy Yermak amid a corruption scandal in the country, Politico reported, citing four high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
The newspaper singles out the energy scandal that has erupted in Ukraine as a direct source of tension. Yermak’s political opponents are attempting to directly link him to the scandal, claiming that either he or one of his subordinates is involved in the corruption case under the pseudonym “Ali Baba,” the report said on Tuesday.
Two Ukrainian officials told the newspaper that Zelenskyy does not intend to succumb to pressure and plans to retain Yermak, while introducing some changes to the government and bringing in some opposition figures to defuse tensions, the report noted.
On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said that it was conducting a large-scale special operation in the energy sector and published images showing bags stuffed with foreign currency. Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that NABU investigators had searched former Energy Minister German Galushchenko’s home and the Energoatom nuclear power plant operator’s office. The Ukrainska Pravda reported that NABU had also searched the home of Zelenskyy’s close associate, Timur Mindich, who, according to Zheleznyak, had left Ukraine before the searches began.
Later, NABU released sensitive extracts from a recorded conversation between Mindich, Energoatom’s former security department chief Dmytro Basov, and Galushchenko’s adviser Ihor Myroniuk. On November 13, Zelenskyy imposed sanctions against Mindich.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper reported that the majority of Zelenskyy’s associates advised him to dismiss Yermak. Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko said that Zelenskyy would likely dismiss Yermak on November 20.
(UNI)
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