The court has upheld the bail amount for Yermak in the Midas case

On 21 May, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court considered an appeal lodged by Andriy Yermak, the former head of the President’s Office, against the preventive measure imposed on him.

This involves detention pending trial with the possibility of bail set at 140 million hryvnias.

Following the appeal court’s decision, the preventive measure imposed on Yermak remained unchanged.

The judges rejected both the defence’s appeal and the prosecution’s appeal.

The defence’s position

During the appeal hearing, Yermak’s defence insisted that the charges and the decision of the court of first instance were unfounded.

The lawyer stated that Yermak had not made any deposits into the accounts of the ‘Sunny Coast’ housing cooperative.

The defence also argued that the charge of money laundering must be based on a predicate offence. According to the lawyer, there are no suspects in the ‘Midas’ case who provided an unlawful benefit; therefore, in the defence’s view, there is no predicate offence in the prosecution’s case.

Yermak himself stated in court that he was not involved in the commission of the offence.

“The investigation has not produced a single piece of evidence of my involvement in financing the construction or any other participation. There is no evidence of my acquisition or possession of this property. This was not proven by the prosecutor during the proceedings,” he said.

Yermak also denied any involvement in discussions regarding the construction project.

What Yermak said about the bail

The former head of the Presidential Office stated that he had not been hiding from the pre-trial investigation authorities, was participating in the proceedings and had not left the country.

According to him, he has surrendered his foreign passports.

Yermak also noted that one of the largest bail amounts – over 150 million hryvnias – had been paid on his behalf.

At the same time, he clarified that he had not personally paid the bail, although he was prepared to pay up to 10 million hryvnias, but did not physically have the means to do so.

During the hearing, the judge also raised the issue of Oleksiy Shevchuk’s statement regarding his willingness to vouch for Yermak. Yermak replied that he was not acquainted with him.

The prosecutor’s arguments

The prosecutor objected to the change in the preventive measure.

According to the prosecution, “Residence 2” in the cottage community belonged to Yermak.

To support this position, the prosecutor read out information from the mobile phones of other suspects in the case, including correspondence between Yermak’s father and contractors.

The prosecutor also reported that NABU had seized documentation from the office of the so-called “laundromat”. According to the investigation, these documents concerned the allocation of funds for the construction of “Residence 2”, which the investigation links to Yermak.

The prosecutor stated that the source of the funds was other individuals involved in the case, whilst Yermak, according to the investigation, was able to dispose of them.

According to the prosecution, NABU also seized documents containing a plan to legalise the property.

“Yermak must have known the origin of these funds. They were not allocated from his income, but from an illegal office where funds from illicit schemes were channelled,” the prosecutor stated.

Risks cited by the prosecution

One of the prosecutor’s main arguments was the correspondence of Yermak’s father. According to the prosecution, it stated that Andriy Yermak was spending millions of dollars of his own money on this construction project.

The prosecutor also highlighted the risks of Yermak exerting influence over experts and other participants in the criminal proceedings.

She said that pressure may already have been exerted on one expert after she took part in an inspection of the holiday village. At the very least, this involved a search for information about this expert.

In addition, the prosecutor reported on seized documents which, in the prosecution’s view, may indicate Yermak’s ability to influence the appointment of officials within the SBU, and through them – the course of the proceedings.

The prosecution argued that the bail should have been set at 180 million hryvnias, and that the 140 million hryvnias determined by the court of first instance was insufficient.

What is known about the case

According to the investigation, the former head of the Presidential Office may have been involved in the activities of an organised group through which approximately 460 million hryvnias were laundered.

The NABU and the SAPO are investigating a case concerning possible money laundering during the construction of an elite cottage complex in the village of Kozin, Kyiv region.

According to investigators, in 2020, the then Minister of Community and Territorial Development, Oleksiy Chernyshov, initiated the construction of a private cottage complex with a spa area.

According to the investigation, he brought in people who had influence over political and economic processes in the country as co-investors and future neighbours, including the then-head of the President’s Office and a well-known businessman.

The investigation notes that the construction was carried out through a housing and construction cooperative controlled by the former Deputy Prime Minister.

Where, according to the investigation, the funds came from

According to the investigation, the project was funded from several sources.

These include funds from companies under their control that appear to be shell companies, as well as cash from an entity that the investigation links to the laundering of proceeds from corruption schemes in the energy sector, particularly at ‘Energoatom’.

According to law enforcement, around 72% of the funding may have come from such schemes.

The case covers the period from 2021 to 2025.

Who is involved in the case

Those named as suspects in the case include the former head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak; the former Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksiy Chernyshov; the businessman Timur Mindich, who is also named as a co-organiser and participant in a previously exposed criminal organisation as part of Operation Midas; and four other individuals.

The actions of those involved have been classified under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – the legalisation or laundering of property obtained by criminal means on a particularly large scale.

Law enforcement agencies are also verifying information regarding the use of code names in the suspects’ working documents and other circumstances suggesting a possible concealment of the roles of those involved in the scheme.

According to the investigation, Yermak may have appeared under aliases; however, the former head of the Presidential Office denies all charges and calls them groundless.

What happened earlier

On 19 May, it was reported that Andriy Yermak’s bail had been paid in full – 140 million hryvnias.

He was subsequently released from pre-trial detention, subject to procedural obligations.

As reported by ThePublic, Yermak denied any involvement in the Midas

case during his appeal to the High Anti-Corruption Court.

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