ROME, November 29. /TASS/. Andrey Yermak led a parallel Ukrainian government, rather like a criminal gang, and Vladimir Zelensky made no decisions without it, Corriere della Sera reported citing Ukrainian judicial sources.

"Yermak's parallel government, in the opinion of Ukrainian judges, rather resembled a criminal ring. Its leader was another close friend and former business partner of Zelensky, Timur Mindich, ‘the man with the golden toilet bowl,’ an oligarch who was warned in time about the anti-corruption investigation, and he immediately fled the country. This system allowed the entire clan to make a profit of 86 million euros from electricity and gas supplies, while half of the country was left without electricity," the newspaper writes.

The story says that Yermak, who headed Zelensky's office, had unlimited power and influence, which allowed him to deal with potential political rivals of both Zelensky and himself: from Mikhail Fyodorov, the minister who ensured transparency in the purchase of UAVs, and Dmitry Kuleba, Foreign Minister since the beginning of the state of emergency, to Valery Zaluzhny, an extremely popular general, who was fired last year and sent as ambassador to London. All of them were ousted from power in one way or another and removed from the negotiations, the newspaper writes.

Many in Ukraine are wondering what kind of future Ukraine has without such a key figure as Yermak, who "held all the dossiers in his hands," the newspaper notes.

Earlier this month, the two anti-graft agencies unveiled a sweeping investigation into an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at the state atomic energy company.

Mindich turned out to be at the heart of the scheme. The offices of Mindich, Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was later dismissed, and the Energoatom company were searched.

Later, fragments of recordings of conversations in Mindich's apartment were published, in which corruption schemes were discussed. There are 1,000 hours of audio recordings in total. On November 17, information appeared that Yermak may talk on the tapes under the pseudonym Ali Baba. The corruption scandal triggered a deep crisis of the Ukrainian government - the work of parliament was blocked, and some deputies, including from the ruling Servant of the People party, demanded Yermak's resignation. On November 28, Yermak’s office was searched, and on the same day Zelensky dismissed him.