And this week one other former unpaid adviser to Zelenskyy’s workplace linked to Tatarov, Artem Shilo, was arrested by detectives with the Nationwide Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine on fees of embezzling $2.48 million from Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state railway firm. The allegation is that he was the ringleader of a bunch concerned within the acquisition of transformers from a Bulgarian entrance firm which have been offered to Ukrzaliznytsia at a markup of one hundred pc.
Requested in regards to the Shilo arrest and whether or not others within the president’s workplace might turn out to be the targets of corruption probes, Yermak famous that on the time of his arrest he was now not an adviser within the president’s workplace and was working on the SBU. And he insisted: “For the president, for me, we’ve zero tolerance of corruption. Preventing corruption was one of many most important motives for Zelenskyy to enter politics.”
He identified that beneath Zelenskky the wings of the oligarchs have been clipped and a number of other at the moment are sitting in jail. “That’s has by no means occurred in Ukraine earlier than,” he stated.
And with out prompting, Yermak referred to a money-for-government jobs bribery investigation into his brother, Denys, which was closed in December by NABU, the anti-corruption bureau. “We’re residing in a democracy and it is extremely straightforward to make unjustified accusations and there’s a variety of soiled PR round to attempt to break individuals’s reputations. Folks say brutal issues, together with about me. You already know there was an operation towards me and towards my brother. However now my brother within the entrance line and he is actually preventing however no person studies that,” he stated.
Yermak denies that both he or his brother did something mistaken. Zelenskyy has stated publicly he has full belief in Yermak and his integrity. “I work for my nation,” he advised POLITICO. “I don’t do something unlawful. Now we have a powerful anti-corruption mechanism now. If anybody is responsible, they go to jail. I am the chief of employees of the president so I get attacked. However look, I am comfy, as a result of I’m trustworthy with myself,” he added.
And regardless of sometimes pinching himself to ensure he’s the place he’s and doing what he’s doing, Yermak stated: “I now perceive that every one my earlier life, all of the books I’ve learn, all that I’ve carried out and all my expertise, ready me for this job.”