Operation ’Carthage’: senior law enforcement officials who received bribes from call centres have been exposed
The NABU and the SAPO have exposed a criminal organisation that systematically bribed senior officials at the SSU, the National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office in exchange for ‘protection’ of fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses.
This was reported by the NABU press office, according to Censor.NET.
Details
"As part of Operation ‘Carthage’, NABU and the SAPO have exposed a criminal organisation whose members had established a systematic scheme to provide unlawful benefits to senior officials in law enforcement agencies in exchange for allowing fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses to operate unhindered," the statement reads.
According to the Bureau, current high-ranking officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the National Police, the Office of the Prosecutor General and representatives of the criminal underworld were involved in the criminal activities.
Further details are to be provided at a later date.
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.
