Ukraine's security service chief dismisses two senior officials over anti-corruption bureau probe
SBU head Oleksandr Poklad dismissed two senior officials on 4 November who are implicated in a National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation known as Operation Carthage. He also urged the suspect nicknamed "the Mexican" to return to Ukraine and surrender.
Oleksandr Poklad, head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), dismissed two senior officials of the agency on 4 November. Both are implicated in an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) conducted under Operation Carthage. The SBU said 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 Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. In his words, cooperation is clear and constructive. He added that he is in contact with intelligence services of partner countries so that these crimes can also be investigated in other jurisdictions.
Message to "the Mexican"
Regarding a suspect nicknamed "the Mexican", Poklad proposed that he come to Ukraine and surrender to law enforcement. Otherwise, he said, the service would find him wherever he hides. Poklad stated that the SBU works, and will work, only for Ukraine.
What came before
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 said that during searches 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. Ukrainska Pravda's sources say this was General Serhiy Duka. NABU staff detained Duka, first deputy head of the SBU's National Statehood Protection Department.
Members of the criminal organization exposed under Operation Carthage allegedly planned physical violence against investigative journalist Denys Bihus, over a Bihus.Info investigation into the U420 chain of shops selling narcotics. In published recordings, threats against Bihus are voiced by a figure nicknamed "the Mexican". He is identified as Russian citizen Yegor Burkin, also known as Yegor Levchenko, whom law enforcement describes as head of the transnational drug cartel Khimprom.
