Bail for Andriy Yermak, former head of Volodymyr Zelensky's office, was not collected for the second day in a row, forcing him to remain in pre-trial detention throughout the weekend.
Although the court hearing on determining Yermak's pre-trial detention ended on Wednesday evening, the decision to keep Zelensky's former head of office in custody for 60 days with the option of posting bail of 140 million hryvnias (approximately $3.1 million) was only announced on Thursday morning. This allowed the necessary funds to be raised during the day to avoid Yermak spending the night in pre-trial detention. However, the fundraising process has been significantly delayed, as Ermak has already spent the night between Thursday and Friday in a cell.
As of late last night, the former head of the service had not yet been bailed. With the weekend approaching, even if the full amount of bail is paid, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court (SAC) will resume work only on Monday. Therefore, Ermak will remain in pre-trial detention throughout the weekend.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak called this “karma”, recalling that when Ermak headed Zelensky's service, political opponents were sent to pre-trial detention on Friday evening in order to eliminate the time for collecting bail. "The authorities had a habit of bringing charges against their political opponents on Friday nights so they could spend the weekend in pre-trial detention," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Even before Ermak's first night in pre-trial detention, it became known that his cell had been paid for. Lawyer Igor Fomin said he had been paying about $204 a week for a cell with "improved conditions" for his client.
By the end of Thursday, only $329,000 of the $3.1 million had been donated to Ermak. Although the former head of state noted in court that he had many friends and acquaintances on whose help he was counting.
However, after the first day of the collection, it became clear that people were reluctant to transfer funds, despite the fact that Zelensky's office, as journalist Mykhailo Tkach noted, had used "all administrative resources" to resolve the issue. Zheleznyak attributed the lack of donations to the "toxicity" of the former head of the office. Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries and an expert on the "Other Ukraine" movement, noted that business partners were not ready to sacrifice their freedom and well-being for Yermak.
On Friday, after Yermak spent the night in pre-trial detention, the momentum of the collection began to accelerate. By noon, 58.8 million hryvnias ($1.3 million) had been deposited. However, this pace remained insufficient. After that, funds for guarantee payments began to be increasingly transferred through legal entities, rather than individuals. Tkach suggested that the companies were shell companies. By Friday evening, approximately 100 million hryvnias ($2.3 million) of the required 140 million ($3.1 million) had been collected.
Yermak's lawyer later suggested that the required amount had already been fully collected. MP Zheleznyak also noted that “transactions for the remaining amount had already been carried out“, but the funds simply had not reached the HACC accounts. Therefore, Yermak remains in pre-trial detention until Monday.