NABU conducts searches at Ukraine's prosecutor general and Odesa region head
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office are conducting searches at Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and Odesa regional administration head Oleh Kiper. The searches are linked to a probe into a criminal organization tied to fraudulent call centers.
According to sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) are carrying out searches on September 4 at the offices of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and Odesa regional military administration head Oleh Kiper.
Background
On the evening of September 4, it became known that NABU was conducting investigative actions at the Prosecutor General's Office as part of a special operation aimed at exposing a criminal organization. Sources in business circles told Ukrainska Pravda that NABU and SAPO had detained Serhiy Kropyva, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office's Department of International Legal Cooperation.
NABU and SAPO stated they were conducting a special operation to expose a criminal organization led by an official of the Prosecutor General's Office, allegedly involved in providing protection ('roof cover') for a network of fraudulent call centers and in legalizing illicit assets.
Prosecutor's office response
The Prosecutor General's Office said it would fully cooperate with the anti-corruption bodies in the investigation into the fraudulent call centers. At the same time, the office said it would suspend the employee whose possible involvement in unlawful activity is being examined.
