High Anti-Corruption Court refused to question Chervinskyi as witness in Yermak case. VIDEO
The High Anti-Corruption Court has refused to call former intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi as a witness in the case against Andrii Yermak, the former head of the President’s Office.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
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Details
The prosecutor stated that she had been approached by Roman Chervinskyi, who could provide evidence regarding Yermak’s ability to exert pressure. She filed a motion to question Chervinskyi as a witness.
The defence argued that Chervinskyi is not a witness in the proceedings concerning "money laundering".
The prosecutor is asking for Chervinskyi's motion to be investigated.
"If there are other individuals who are aware of facts that may be relevant to these proceedings, they may contact the NABU," added Hrebeniuk.
Judge Nohachevskyi dismissed the motion to question Chervinskyi.
What led up to this?
In January 2026, Chervinskyi stated that Andriy Yermak had been recruited by the Foreign Intelligence Service.
In his view, the personnel decisions made by the now former head of the President’s Office, Andrii Yermak, had a negative impact on Ukraine’s defence capabilities on the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion.
On 13 May, Chervinskyi and Yermak had a heated exchange at the High Anti-Corruption Court, where the former head of the Presidential Office’s preventive measure was being considered.
At the time, the former intelligence officer mentioned Yermak’s brother, who, according to him, demanded US$10,000 for a meeting with the then head of the Office of the President.
Later, in a comment to Censor.NET, he explained the reasons behind this altercation.
Roman Chervinskyi was one of the intelligence officers who, in 2020, organised an operation to detain Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, luring them to Belarus. There, the mercenaries were to board a plane, which Ukrainian special services would subsequently force to make an emergency landing in Ukraine. However, the operation fell through. On 24 June 2021, President Zelenskyy confirmed preparations for a special operation targeting the "Wagnerites". Zelenskyy also stated that the special operation against the "Wagnerites" was the idea of other countries and that Ukraine had been drawn into the matter as much as possible.
In December 2021, DIU intelligence officers Chervinskyi and Semeniuk spoke out about the operation being compromised. According to Chervinskyi, several people from the President’s Office may have "leaked" information regarding the operation to detain the "Wagnerites". He also stated that the President’s Office had threatened the former intelligence officers with criminal proceedings.
According to Chervinskyi, Yermak told the Defence Intelligence to destroy all materials relating to the ‘Wagnerites’ case.
The case of Denys Yermak
As a reminder, on 29 March 2020, MP Geo Leros posted several videos in which the brother of the Head of the President’s Office, Denys Yermak, allegedly discusses appointments to various government posts. The MP also stated that he had contacted the NABU.
Andrii Yermak accused Leros of slander and promised to file complaints with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR).
Censor.NET has transcribed the published recordings.
Based on the video recordings, the SAPO has opened criminal proceedings into the possible commission of corruption offences during the appointment of individuals to government bodies.
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) opened proceedings under four articles following Andrii Yermak’s complaint: Article 190 (fraud), Article 344 (interference in the activities of a public official), Article 328 (disclosure of state secrets) and Article 365 (abuse of power or official authority).
Lawyer Masi Naiem reported that the prosecutor’s office had been instructed to investigate the creation of murals by Geo Leros, a member of parliament from the "Servant of the People" party, who is also the founder of the street art project Art United Us.
As Censor.NET has learnt from its own sources, Denys Yermak, the brother of the Head of the President’s Office Andrii Yermak, was questioned on 31 March by the State Bureau of Investigations in connection with the ‘Leros recordings’ case.
On 13 May, it emerged that the materials of the criminal proceedings concerning video recordings involving Denys Yermak, the brother of the Head of the President’s Office, Andrii Yermak, had been handed over to the Security Service of Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the case involving Denys Yermak’s recordings as "empty" and stated that the recordings were intended to blackmail him personally. Furthermore, he called Denys Yermak a "chatterbox" and SN MP Leros, who published the recordings, a "con artist".
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has confirmed that, based on the recordings of Denys Yermak’s conversations, it is conducting a criminal investigation against his brother Andrii Yermak, the head of the President’s Office.
