Unfortunately, there is currently no chance that next Prosecutor General will be selected through competitive process, - Shabunin
Vitalii Shabunin, chairman of the board of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, believes that following Ruslan Kravchenko’s resignation, Ukraine is unlikely to get a new prosecutor general selected through a competitive process.
This is discussed in a Censor.NET article titled "Kravchenko leaves, but ‘Carthage’ remains? What happens next?"
Details
"Davyd Arakhamia and a couple of other influential figures in the government tried to keep him in office. But to no avail, since their arguments were weak.
What the future holds for Kravchenko remains to be seen. We’ve already seen how things played out with Klymenko’s appointment as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Could he be sent as an ambassador? At the moment, I don’t see any civilized country that would approve his appointment after what has happened. But whether Kravchenko could end up behind bars if he is charged in the "Carthage" case is also unclear at this point. The situation here is similar to what happened with Yermak," he noted.
At the same time, Shabunin believes that, unfortunately, there is currently no chance that the country will select its next Prosecutor General through a competitive process.
"The Ukraine Facility has not yet determined the ‘cost’ of adopting the bill on the competitive selection process for the Prosecutor General. Such a direct requirement is expected to appear in the Ukraine Facility Plan in early 2027. Currently, it is only mentioned in the enlargement report. Obviously, if the EU promises us funding for adopting the reform, this will increase the likelihood of a competitive selection process. But for now, it is most likely that the new Prosecutor General will be just as much a political appointee as Kravchenko. As for what he will do—we’ll see," he concluded.
The full article on Kravchenko’s dismissal from the post of Prosecutor General is available at the link.
Operation ‘Carthage’
- Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda, citing its own sources, reported that NABU and SAPO were allegedly conducting searches targeting Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Mariia Vdovychenko, and Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration (RMA) Oleh Kiper.
- On 4 September, NABU and SAPO reported the alleged "protection" by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of a network of so-called call centers that defraud people.
- According to media reports, NABU and SAPO detained Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the PGO’s Department of International Legal Cooperation.
- Before taking up his current position at the PGO, Kropyva served as deputy head of the Odesa Regional State Administration on Oleh Kiper’s team.
- Against this backdrop, NABU announced a new operation called "Carthage."
- The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that it would suspend the employee whose possible involvement in "protecting a network" of fraudulent call centers and laundering assets is being investigated.
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According to updated information, NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) uncovered a criminal organisation whose members systematically received bribes from fraudulent call centres and laundered millions. The organiser of the scheme was identified as the head of one of the Prosecutor General’s Office divisions.
- Recordings of the criminal group of Prosecutor General’s Office employees were also released.
- The Prosecutor General’s Office later confirmed searches at the premises of Prosecutor General Kravchenko and his deputy.
- The High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a pretrial restraint measure on Prosecutor General’s Office official Kropyva.
- On September 7, Ivakhnenko was remanded in custody with bail set at UAH 20 million.
- On the evening of 7 September, Kravchenko resigned from his post as Prosecutor General.
