Overview
- Investigators from the Specialized Anti‑Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti‑Corruption Bureau said on Sept. 4 that Operation Carthage exposed a criminal organisation inside the Prosecutor General’s Office that took bribes from fraudulent call centres and laundered proceeds.
- The High Anti‑Corruption Court ordered Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the PGO Department of International Cooperation, held in custody with an alternative bail of UAH 120 million and reporting and non‑contact conditions through Nov. 2, 2026.
- Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has publicly denied any involvement in the scheme, suspended the implicated employee, ordered unit inspections and mandatory polygraph tests, and said he will not resign unless the legislature decides otherwise.
- If Kropyva posts bail the court requires surrendering international passports, electronic monitoring, regular reporting to investigators, and a ban on contacting key witnesses including Kravchenko and his first deputy.
- The case both reflects the scale of Ukraine’s call‑centre fraud problem—law enforcement says hundreds of centres and thousands of operator stations have been targeted—and raises immediate questions about the legality of NABU’s searches and possible political fallout for prosecutorial reform.