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Operation Carthage Reveals Bribery Network and On-Site Obstruction by Security Service Official

This confrontation could weaken public trust, jeopardizing Ukraine's EU accession and donor support.

Overview

  • NABU and SAPO said they uncovered a criminal scheme that paid bribes to senior law-enforcement officials to shield fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses.
  • The anti-graft agencies carried out court-authorized searches that they say were blocked when a senior SBU officer threatened to use a firearm and SBU special forces arrived.
  • Ukrainska Pravda published photos and video from the searches and named Major General Serhii Duka as the senior SBU official reporters say was involved, a detail described by outlets as reported rather than legally confirmed.
  • The SBU says it is cooperating with investigators while SBU head Oleksandr Poklad has dismissed two officers who became subjects of the probe and the service says it will support a transparent investigation.
  • The operation follows earlier revelations that forced the September resignation of then-Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and raises fresh questions about institutional fights over anti-corruption independence and the wider impact on reforms and foreign support.