Kryvonos: We do not wish to politicise any of activities of NABU and SAPO

NABU Director Semen Kryvonos commented on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s possible involvement in the attack on anti-corruption bodies, describing it as an attempt to politicise the situation.

He stated this at a press briefing, according to Censor.NET.

Zelenskyy’s involvement

In response, Semen Kryvonos pointed out that Zelenskyy had already stated his position that morning regarding the need to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

"I can see an attempt to drag us into the political agenda. We don’t play political games," said Kryvonos.

According to him, the current attack on the NABU is seen as an attempt to politicise the work of the anti-corruption bodies:

"We do not wish to politicise any of the activities of the NABU and the SAPO. In recent months, we have witnessed a blatant, desperate attempt to drag us into the political agenda. This is being spread, once again, via those very same anonymous Telegram channels."

According to him, fraudulent call centres have been defrauding not only Ukrainians but also citizens of other European countries.

"In other words, this is a Russian act of sabotage; it’s purely a ploy by the Russians", he added, noting that he had discussed the matter with the President.

Furthermore, according to Kryvonos, those implicated in the ‘Carthage’ case – concerning the Office of the Prosecutor General’s protection of these call centres – were warned in advance about the searches.

According to the director of NABU, whenever detectives access the register of property rights, a notification is automatically triggered; as yet unidentified individuals receive this notification and pass the information on to those under investigation.

Operation ‘Carthage’

As a reminder, earlier "Ukrainska Pravda", citing its own sources, reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) were allegedly carrying out searches at the offices of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Mariia Vdovichenko, and the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Oleh Kiper.
On 4 September, the NABU and the SAPO announced that there was likely to be ‘protection’ within the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) for a network of so-called call centres that swindle people out of their money.
According to media reports, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have detained Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the Department of International Legal Cooperation at the General Prosecutor’s Office.
Prior to his current role at the OGP, Kropiva served as Deputy Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, working alongside Oleh Kiper.
Against this backdrop, NABU announced a new operation called ‘Carthage’.

The Office of the Prosecutor General has stated that it will suspend an employee who is under investigation for possible involvement in ‘providing protection for a network’ of fraudulent call centres and the laundering of assets.
According to the latest information, NABU and the SAPO have uncovered a criminal organisation whose members systematically received illicit gains from fraudulent call centres and laundered millions. The organiser of the scheme turned out to be one of the heads of a department within the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Records relating to a criminal group of OGP employees were also published.
Later, the Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed that searches had been carried out at the homes of Prosecutor General Kravchenko and his deputy.
The High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a preventive measure on Kropyva, an official at the State Guard Service.
On 7 September, Ivakhnenko was remanded in custody with bail set at 20 million hryvnias.
On the evening of 7 September, Kravchenko resigned from his post as Prosecutor General.
Following in his footsteps, Deputy Prosecutor General Maria Vdovichenko, who is implicated in an investigation by the anti-corruption authorities, resigned from the Prosecutor General’s Office