SBU Chief Dismisses Two Senior Officials Named in NABU Investigation
Oleksandr Poklad, head of Ukraine's Security Service, dismissed two senior officials on 4 November who are suspects in an anti-corruption investigation known as Operation Carthage. He also urged the man nicknamed "the Mexican" to surrender.
Oleksandr Poklad, head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), dismissed two senior officials of the agency on 4 November. Both figure in an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) conducted under Operation Carthage, according to an SBU statement.
The SBU says it fully supports the criminal proceedings and is assisting with all necessary procedural steps. Poklad said the service expects a transparent, objective and impartial investigation, and that he had discussed this with the heads of NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). In his words, cooperation is clear and constructive. He added that he is in contact with intelligence services of partner countries so that the crimes can also be investigated in other jurisdictions.
Message to "the Mexican"
Poklad addressed a figure in the case nicknamed "the Mexican", proposing that he come to Ukraine and surrender to law enforcement. Otherwise, he said, the service will find him wherever he is hiding. The SBU chief stressed that the service works only for Ukraine.
Background
Earlier on 4 November it emerged that NABU was searching the premises of Anton Kravchuk, head of the SBU's Main Internal Security Directorate. NABU had stated that during lawful investigative actions carried out under a ruling by an investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, one senior SBU official threatened to use a firearm and denied detectives access to the search site. According to Ukrainska Pravda's sources, this is General Serhiy Duka. NABU staff detained Duka, first deputy head of the SBU's department for protecting national statehood.
Members of the criminal organisation exposed under Operation Carthage reportedly planned a physical attack on investigative journalist Denys Bihus, following a Bihus.Info investigation into the U420 chain of shops that sold narcotics. In published recordings, the threats against Bihus are voiced by a figure nicknamed "the Mexican". He is Russian citizen Yehor Burkin, also known as Yehor Levchenko, whom law enforcers call the head of the transnational drug cartel Khimprom.
