UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky fired one of his most senior officials as corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case.

He made no public comment on the investigation but issued a decree dismissing Iryna Mudra as deputy head of the Office of the President even though she was not named as a suspect.

Investigators have identified a group of people alleged to have laundered 150 million hryvnias (about £2.5million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said.

That case, involving the state-owned nuclear power company, brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers.

The latest suspects include a former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank’s board and the head of the bank’s supervisory board, as well as a deputy head of the presidential office, the agency said.

Last year, Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and later was named as a suspect in a major corruption probe involving a luxury construction project.

The European Union has identified deep-seated corruption as one of the major hurdles to Ukraine’s desired membership in the bloc.