Former Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak and former Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov are not suspects in the huge energy corruption scandal that has rocked Ukraine’s government, Semen Kryvonos, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), said on Thursday.
Two ministers, several Energoatom officials and Timur Mindich, a businessman and close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky, were implicated in the $100 million kickback scheme named for Mindich.
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Yermak resigned on Nov. 28 following reports that NABU had searched his residence earlier in the day as part of investigations into the scandal, the most high-profile anti-corruption investigation in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion.
Umerov, who serves currently as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, also came under scrutiny after he was questioned by NABU on Nov. 26 in the huge case, the biggest corruption investigation in Zelensky’s presidency.
On Thursday, Kryvonos confirmed that neither Yermak nor Umerov are considered suspects in the case at the current time.
No searches were conducted at Yermak’s office in November 2025, Kryvonos said at a broadcast meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
He declined to comment on whether other investigative actions were taking place, but emphasized that Yermak was “not declared suspicious.”
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Some reports had also claimed that NABU had conducted searches on Yermak’s driver earlier this week, though Kryvonos declined to comment on this matter on Thursday.
Nor did he answer when asked whether NABU was aware of the whereabouts of Yermak, saying it was “not within the scope” of the investigation.
Earlier on Thursday, official documents released by lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak showed that Yermak is not serving in the Ukrainian military and has not applied to enlist.
This was despite an earlier, impassioned pledge given to a New York Post journalist in November 2025, in which Yermak said: “I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals.”
The document, signed by Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Yevhen Moisiuk, said: “We inform that as of the consideration of the parliamentary inquiry, Ukrainian citizen Andriy Borysovych Yermak has not applied to any TRCs [recruitment centers] regarding a desire to perform military service.”
Zhelezniak confirmed that rumors of Yermak serving in other security agencies were false. Media reports claiming he was at Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) facilities were denied after official checks, while claims he could be serving in the Ground Forces were also dismissed.
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