Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General denied late on Friday that searches were taking place at the office of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, after local media reported that anti-corruption investigators had raided his premises.
Spokesperson Natalia Bayurko told journalists that the reports were untrue.
The newspaper Ukrainska Pravda had earlier said, citing its own sources, that anti-corruption agencies were searching the premises of Kravchenko, his deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional state administration.
Operation Carthage
The report followed an announcement on the evening of September 4 by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) that they were carrying out a special operation to expose a criminal organisation allegedly led by an official of the Office of the Prosecutor General. According to investigators, the group was involved in providing cover, or "kryshuvannia," for a network of fraudulent call centres and in laundering assets.
NABU and SAP released a video naming the operation Carthage but gave no further details.
Sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda said law enforcement officers had detained Serhiy Kropyva, head of the cyber department at the Office of the Prosecutor General. The newspaper also published footage said to show NABU officers climbing over the fence of the Office of the Prosecutor General building using ladders.
The Office of the Prosecutor General later said it had suspended one of its employees for the duration of the investigation, stating the person may be linked to illegal activity.
NABU, SAP and the prosecutor's office
NABU and SAP are Ukraine's dedicated law enforcement bodies for investigating and prosecuting high-level corruption, and they operate independently of the Office of the Prosecutor General, which is the country's top prosecutorial authority. Odesa is a major port city on Ukraine's Black Sea coast.
Call centre fraud
Fraudulent call centres have targeted not only Russian citizens but also Ukrainians and residents of Europe, and their activity has surfaced in a number of separate criminal cases. A law enforcement source told LIGA.net that among the possible motives for an assassination attempt on sanctioned businessman Vadym Yermolaiev and his family in Monaco were theories involving a possible redistribution of spheres of influence linked to call centres.
In August, Kravchenko, the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the exposure of 94 call centres and the seizure of more than $2 million.
New legislation
On September 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted two bills to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, intended to toughen liability for running fraudulent call centres and for so-called "drop" schemes involving bank cards and accounts.
No further details of the alleged criminal organisation or its activities have been released.
