NABU and SAP launch 'Carthage' operation targeting prosecutor's office official over alleged call-center scheme
On September 4, Ukraine's NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) announced a special operation codenamed "Carthage" aimed at exposing a criminal organization allegedly led by an official of the Office of the Prosecutor General. The group is suspected of providing cover for a network of fraudulent call centers and laundering assets. According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, Serhiy Kropyva, head of the OPG's cyber department, was detained. The OPG said it is cooperating with investigators and has suspended the suspect.
Key points
- On September 4, NABU and SAP announced a special operation codenamed "Carthage" targeting a criminal organization led by an official of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
- The organization is suspected of providing cover ('kryshuvannya') for a network of fraudulent call centers and laundering assets.
- According to Ukrainska Pravda sources in business circles, NABU and SAP detained Serhiy Kropyva, head of the OPG's cyber department.
- The Office of the Prosecutor General said it is cooperating with anti-corruption authorities and has suspended the suspect from duties for the duration of the pre-trial investigation.
- Ukrainska Pravda filmed NABU officers climbing over the fence of the OPG building in Kyiv with ladders.
- NABU and SAP said procedural actions are underway and that further details will be released later.
- Whether searches were conducted at Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko is disputed: UP sources reported searches; OPG spokespersons Mariana Hayovska and Natalia Baiurko denied any investigative actions at Kravchenko's home or office.
Why it matters
The operation targets alleged high-level corruption inside Ukraine's top prosecution office, with an anti-corruption body (NABU/SAP) investigating the very justice-sector leadership it works alongside. It is connected to the broader issue of fraudulent call centers, which Ukrainian authorities have been actively shutting down in prior operations, and demonstrates a concrete institutional response — including the suspension of the suspect and pledged cooperation from the Office of the Prosecutor General itself.
What happened
On September 4, NABU and SAP announced a special operation, code-named "Carthage," to expose a criminal organization allegedly led by an official of the Office of the Prosecutor General. The organization is suspected of providing cover for a network of fraudulent call centers and of laundering assets. Ukrainska Pravda filmed NABU officers climbing the fence of the OPG building in Kyiv with ladders to enter. According to UP sources in business circles, NABU and SAP detained Serhiy Kropyva, head of the OPG's cyber department. NABU and SAP said procedural actions are underway and promised further details later. The Office of the Prosecutor General said it would fully cooperate with anti-corruption authorities and has suspended the suspect from duties for the duration of the pre-trial investigation. Whether searches were conducted at Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko is disputed: UP sources reported searches at Kravchenko, his deputy Mariya Vdovychenko, and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper, while OPG spokespersons Mariana Hayovska and Natalia Baiurko denied any investigative actions at Kravchenko's home or office. As of reporting, NABU and SAP had not disclosed the identity of the official beyond UP's reporting, the scale of the network, or possible damages.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian sources center the story on NABU and SAP's institutional action against alleged wrongdoing inside the Office of the Prosecutor General, including visuals of officers entering the OPG building. Coverage gives significant weight to the OPG's own response — denial of searches at Kravchenko, pledged cooperation, and suspension of the suspect. Ukrainian-language outlets tend to foreground the operation's codename "Carthage" and the broader anti-call-center policy push by the president and prosecutor general, while Russian-language Ukrainian outlets emphasize the alleged 'roofing' of fraudulent call centers as the underlying scheme.
Where reporting differs
Sources disagree on whether searches were conducted at Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. Sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda reported that searches were underway at Kravchenko, his deputy Mariya Vdovychenko, and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper. The Office of the Prosecutor General — through spokespersons Mariana Hayovska and Natalia Baiurko — denied that any investigative actions took place at Kravchenko's home or office.
Background
On August 12, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported that the SBU and National Police shut down 94 fraudulent call centers in a large-scale operation, with searches conducted across Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts; 411 searches were conducted, more than 3,330 units of computer equipment, 1,346 phones, 5,238 SIM cards, 20 crypto wallets, and 90 bank cards were seized, and 1,794 operator 'workplaces' were eliminated. On September 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he had submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, two draft laws: one strengthening liability for organizing and participating in fraudulent call centers, and another providing additional protection for citizens against illegal actions with payment instruments and bank accounts.