Operation "Carthage": HACC extends detention of former PGO official Kropyva and two other suspects with option of bail
The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) extended the detention of a former Prosecutor General’s Office official, a lawyer, and another suspect by 60 days. The court set bail amounts of up to UAH 93.2 million.
The HACC’s press service reported this, according to Censor.NET.
On 29 October 2026, HACC investigating judges extended the detention of three suspects by 60 days:
- Serhii Kropyva, former deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s Department of International Cooperation;
- lawyer Oleksandr Dydych; and
- another individual.
Court sets bail as an alternative to detention
The court also set bail as an alternative to detention at UAH 93.184 million, UAH 11.7 million and UAH 15 million, respectively.
If bail is posted, the suspects must:
- appear when summoned by the investigator (detective), prosecutor, investigating judge or court;
- notify the investigator (detective), prosecutor or court of any changes to their place of residence and employment;
- refrain from discussing the circumstances set out in the written notice of suspicion with the individuals specified in the investigating judge’s ruling;
- surrender to the relevant state authorities for safekeeping all their Ukrainian passports for travel abroad, their official passport and other documents entitling them to leave and enter Ukraine;
- wear an electronic monitoring device.
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.
- Following him, Deputy Prosecutor General Mariia Vdovychenko, who is implicated in the anti-corruption bodies’ investigation, also resigned from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
- As part of Operation "Carthage", an investigating judge of the HACC imposed a preventive measure on the former head of one of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s departments, another member of the criminal organisation within the Prosecutor General’s Office.
