The former chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has been formally accused of involvement in a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme, the country’s top anti-graft agencies and news outlets said late Monday.
The announcement, which identified “the former head of the presidential office of Ukraine,” opened a new chapter in a monthslong scandal that burst into public view in November, when the agencies said government officials had embezzled $100 million from Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power giant.
That spurred a political crisis, prompting calls from lawmakers for Mr. Zelensky to clean house, and led to the resignations of Ukraine’s energy and justice ministers.
The president’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, also resigned that month, after law enforcement agencies searched his apartment as part of the investigation, though he was not charged.
On Monday, Ukrainian news outlets reported that the anticorruption agencies were carrying out further “actions” involving Mr. Yermak.
Shortly afterward, the agencies issued a joint statement saying that they had exposed a 460 million hryvnia ($10.5 million) corruption scheme involving “luxury construction near Kyiv.”
They added that Mr. Yermak, the former head of the presidential office, had been served a notice of suspicion, which is similar to an indictment and a step toward formal charges. While the agencies did not name Mr. Yermak, the description left little room for doubt. Ukrainian news media, citing sources, also reported that the individual in question was Mr. Yermak.
There was no immediate comment from Mr. Yermak about the latest turn in the investigation, which has alarmed nations that have donated billions of dollars for Ukraine’s defense budget in the war with Russia.
It also put an uncomfortable spotlight on Mr. Zelensky: Some of his closest allies have been linked to the scandal, including a former deputy prime minister, a former business partner and the former energy minister.
Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky, told journalists on Monday night that despite the notice of suspicion, it was “too early to make any assessments,” since procedural actions were ongoing.
Mr. Zelensky has tried to distance himself from the investigation, saying that anyone engaged in government corruption should be punished.
Revelations from the inquiry, called Operation Midas, have surfaced in dribs and drabs. The agencies involved — Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor — have said the inquiry had produced 1,000 hours of wiretaps. They had been releasing updates on the investigation in the form of promotional teasers and slickly produced videos, but the stream had petered out in recent months.
At the end of April, Ukrainian news outlets shared leaked audio recordings purportedly from Operation Midas, bringing the scandal back into the headlines.
Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.