"Carthage" case: NABU and SAPO have announced five suspects in a cover-up of illegal business activities; those implicated include high-ranking officials from SSU and National Police. VIDEO

Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and prosecutors from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have served notices of suspicion on five members of a criminal organisation which, according to the investigation, provided a cover for fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses. The suspects include high-ranking officials from the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police.

This has been reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), according to Censor.NET.

Who has been charged

As part of Operation ‘Carthage’, five individuals have been charged:

the organiser of a criminal organisation, who has previously been convicted on multiple occasions;
the first deputy head of one of the SSU’s departments;
the head of one of the departments of the National Police;
the deputy head of a division within the Kyiv Region Police Criminal Investigation Directorate;
a subordinate of the organiser of the criminal organisation.

According to the investigation, the organiser involved current high-ranking officials from the SSU, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the National Police and representatives of the criminal underworld in the illegal activities.

How the criminal organisation operated

The investigation established that members of the organisation systematically paid bribes to senior officials in law enforcement agencies to ensure the unhindered operation of their illegal businesses.

In particular, this involved fraudulent call centres that defrauded Ukrainians and foreigners, drug trafficking, the illegal production of counterfeit cigarettes and the counterfeiting of foreign currency.

In addition, law enforcement officers established that members of the organisation were involved in assaults, kidnappings and causing bodily harm in the interests of the criminal group.

According to the investigation, corrupt links within law enforcement agencies enabled members of the organisation to avoid obstacles to their illegal activities and to generate illicit profits.

It has been provisionally established that the criminal organisation comprised at least 12 individuals.

The suspects’ actions have been classified under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in particular regarding the formation of and participation in a criminal organisation, the receipt and granting of unlawful benefits, torture, the production of counterfeit money and the laundering of proceeds of crime.

What led up to this?

Earlier, NABU reported that a senior SSU official was threatening to use a weapon and obstructing a search.
Subsequently, the Bureau stated that NABU and the SAPO had exposed a criminal organisation that systematically bribed high-ranking officials of the SSU, the National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office in exchange for ‘protection’ of fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses.
NABU stated that, as part of the ‘Carthage’ investigation, a criminal organisation had been exposed, whose members had established a systematic practice of bribing senior officials in law enforcement agencies to allow fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses to operate unhindered.
It was subsequently reported that the anti-corruption authorities had detained General Serhii Duka, the first deputy head of the SSU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
The head of the SSU, Oleksandr Poklad, dismissed two senior officials of the Service who are implicated in the NABU investigation as part of Operation ‘Carthage’. He also urged a suspect in the case, known by the alias ‘Mexican’, to return to Ukraine and surrender to the law enforcement authorities.