Yermak bail reaches $1,22 million as firm linked to boxing coach makes latest payment
An additional 9.8 million hryvnias in bail was posted for Andriy Yermak (Photo: Serhiy Okuniev/NV)
An additional 9.8 million hryvnias ($221,860) was posted toward the bail of former Ukrainian Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak on May 15, bringing the total to roughly 54 million hryvnias ($1.22 million) as of 2 p.m. — just over one-third of the court-ordered 140 million hryvnia ($3.2 million) sum, Radio Liberty’s Schemes investigative project reported, citing law enforcement sources.
The latest payment was made by a company called Miralif, registered in 2023 in Sofiyivska Borshchahivka, a suburb of Kyiv. The firm's primary listed activity is the leasing and management of real estate.
Journalists were unable to reach the company's director, Valentyn Krutko as his phone numbers were not in service. Public records list him as the founder of several companies, and media reports link him to boxing coaching.
In 2018, Krutko was named in connection with a shooting at the Eldorado nightclub in Ivano-Frankivsk, in which two people were injured.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said earlier that Yermak could remain in pre-trial detention through May 16 and 17, adding that funds would "continue to be posted through individuals from the [business] market."
Earlier on May 14, Ukrainska Pravda investigations editor Mykhailo Tkach and Schemes journalists reported that former Ukrainian national soccer team head coach Serhiy Rebrov had contributed 30 million hryvnias ($679,170) toward Yermak's bail.
The case against Yermak
On May 11, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) announced that Yermak had been formally charged. Anti-corruption authorities said they had exposed an organized group allegedly involved in the laundering of 460 million hryvnias ($10.4 million) through an upscale residential development near Kyiv — a housing cooperative known as Dynasty. Yermak was named as a suspected participant in the group.
Investigators are pursuing charges under Part 3, Article 209 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, which covers money laundering carried out by an organized group or involving an especially large sum.
Yermak denied the allegations in comments to journalists, saying he does not own property in the Dynasty cooperative and that his only assets are "one apartment and a car." His attorney called the charges "groundless."
On May 14, Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACCU) ordered Yermak held in pre-trial detention with the option of bail set at 140 million hryvnias ($3.2 million). He was taken into custody in the courtroom.
By the evening of May 14, only 14,501,410.68 hryvnias ($328,360) — roughly 10% of the court-set amount — had been posted toward his release.
Investigative journalist Tkach, citing sources in political circles, said the Presidential Office had mobilized its full administrative resources to resolve the matter, but that "few people want to stick their necks out."
Yermak subsequently remained in detention after supporters failed to raise and post the required bail in time.
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