EXHIBIT 31.1

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302

CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, John J. Hannan, Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Investment Corporation, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Apollo Investment Corporation;

2. Based on my
knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flow of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

4. The registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure
that material information relating to the registrant is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared; and

b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and

c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrants most recent fiscal quarter (the registrants fourth quarter in the case of an annual
report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants internal control over the financial reporting;

5. The registrants other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of
the registrants board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a) all significant deficiencies and material
weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrants internal control
over financial reporting.

Dated this day of August 7, 2006



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|/s/ John J. Hannan     
|Chief Executive Officer