Kravchenko: I only filed suspicion against NABU chief late due to Zelensky's pressure

Ukraine's dismissed Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said he was the only prosecutor general who did not fear intense political and media pressure and served the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Semen Kryvonos, with what he called a well-founded notice of suspicion, after making sure sufficient evidence had been gathered.

Kravchenko said his only regret was that, under pressure from President Volodymyr Zelensky, he did not sign the suspicion much earlier. He added that the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) had said a day earlier that officials were now "awaiting a reaction" from the president regarding the suspicion, which Kravchenko called very telling.

Criticism over withdrawn suspicions

In his statement, Kravchenko expressed outrage that anti-corruption bodies had themselves begun "cancelling" suspicions filed against their own officials. He stressed that the notice of suspicion against the NABU chief was served strictly in accordance with procedural law and that there were and are no legal grounds for withdrawing it.

Timeline of events

On September 7, Kravchenko submitted his resignation as prosecutor general amid a NABU and SAPO investigation into alleged systematic bribes received by the Prosecutor General's Office from fraudulent call centers. On the morning of September 14, Kravchenko announced he had signed a notice of suspicion against Kryvonos, who is accused of forging documents to obtain undue benefits on an especially large scale and of a fictitious adoption. Overnight into September 14, Kravchenko himself left Ukraine in an official car. Kryvonos called the allegations nonsense and refused to comment. Later, on the evening of September 14, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that the information about the suspicion against NABU's chief, previously spread by the dismissed Kravchenko, did not correspond to reality.