People Servant group requests investigations of Denys Yermak videos

A group of MPs with the pro-presidential People’s
Servant faction submitted requests on Apr. 1 to a series of top law enforcement
bodies to review the incriminating video recordings of Denys Yermak, the
brother of President’s Office Head Andriy Yermak, and pursue criminal charges.
The requests were submitted in response to the State Bureau of Investigations
(DBR) and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opening criminal cases against People’s Servant MP Geo Leros,
who published the first set of “Denys videos” on his Facebook page. SBU officials
visited Leros on Apr. 1 to issue him a summons for interrogation.

 

The Denys Yermak videos “could confirm the trading of
government positions involving officials in the President’s Office of Ukraine,”
wrote on his Facebook page People’s Servant MP Mykyta Poturaev, who is among
the leaders of the pro-Western group. “But the reaction of several law
enforcement bodies in these conditions was extremely strange. That is, they had
questions not regarding the content of the disclosed recordings, which they
should have paid attention to in the first place, but the fact that they became
possible. We view these actions threatening to civil society and its basic
rights and freedoms.”

 

The requests – signed by 10 People’s Servant MPs, as
indicated by a copy posted on Facebook – were submitted to the Prosecutor
General’s Office, the DBR, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office,
and the Internal Affairs Ministry.

 

As his response to the videos surfacing, Denys Yermak
acknowledged that he was recorded on them but insisted the videos were merely
“excerpts removed from their context.” One video showed evidence of a
provocation towards a crime when a bribe of USD 620K is offered for a
government post, he said in a Facebook post. He also stressed he is a private
citizen and entitled to engage in business meetings.

 

In the latest video that was made public on Apr. 1,
Denys Yermak is seen planning to disrupt the business of TransInvestService,
which controls the largest port in Odesa, on behalf of KTL Ukrayina, a company
that Denys Yermak had previously worked for. Denys Yermak indicated he would
receive payments of USD 300K for the task in the video recorded in early
September. The video was published by the bihus.info news site, which said it
has at least 30 hours of video recordings of Denys Yermak and his associates.

 

Zenon Zawada: The
requests submitted by the group of People’s Servant MPs, who represent its
staunch pro-Western wing, confirm that there is no unity within the faction
anymore. And instead of a supermajority supporting the president in all he
does, the parliament is gradually breaking down into its traditional alignment:
wings that are fiercely pro-Russian and pro-Western, those in the middle who can
be swayed, as well as wings that are loyal to the most powerful oligarchs,
namely Rinat Akhmetov and Ihor Kolomoisky.

 

With the Denys Yermak scandal, we expect the same
scenario to play itself out as had been under the Poroshenko administration.
The various law enforcement bodies will take the differing sides in the
conflict, depending on who controls them, opening various investigations and
criminal cases without any of them reaching a court trial. Having immediately
opened cases against Leros, the DBR and the SBU are already on the side of the
Yermaks. And given that the SBU Head Ivan Bakanov is close to President
Zelensky, this could be a sign that Zelensky is stricking by Andriy Yermak,
regardless of the fallout.

 

This scandal serves to eliminate remaining pretenses
that the Zelensky administration is committed to a serious effort at structural
reforms or fighting corruption. It’s business as usual. The main question is
how long will the Ukrainian public tolerate this, in light of the ongoing war
in Donbas, the coronavirus outbreak and its burden on the healthcare system,
the ongoing battles with Ihor Kolomoisky, the economic recession, and now
corruption scandals.

 

Any other president would be on weak standing before
the public and being targeted for removal by political and business enemies.
But the poll numbers released today indicate that Zelensky’s celebrity status
gives him immunity to public criticism. So he seems to have enough political
capital to survive these various crises. However, his core electorate still
expects him to find peace in Donbas, and we view the failure to do so as what
can undermine his elastic support.