Ukraine's anti-corruption court detains senior prosecutor's office official in 'Carthage' call-center case

Why it matters

The case shows that Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure — NABU, SAP, and ВАКС — is pursuing serious allegations against a senior official inside the Office of the Prosecutor General itself, not just outside it. Because the investigation also reached the Prosecutor General's office through searches at Kravchenko and his deputy, and identifies the "Shef" on the recordings as Kravchenko (a claim he rejects), the political stakes extend well beyond Kropyva personally. The two-period laundering allegation — covering Kropyva's time in both the Odesa Regional Administration and the OGP — also signals that investigators view this as a long-running scheme worth tens of millions of hryvnias rather than an isolated incident.

What happened

On the evening of September 4, NABU and SAP detained Serhiy Kropyva, deputy head of the Department of International Legal Cooperation at the Office of the Prosecutor General (nicknamed "Канцлер"). Two days later, on Sunday, September 6, the High Anti-Corruption Court (ВАКС), with investigating judge Viktor Maslov presiding, ordered him held in custody with an alternative bail of 120 million hryvnias — lower than the 200 million UAH prosecutors had asked for — and set pre-trial detention until November 2, 2026. Bail conditions include surrendering foreign passports, refraining from contact with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and his deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and appearing on summons.

According to NABU/SAP, Kropyva is suspected of organizing the "covering" (kryshuvannia) of fraudulent call centers and of laundering property worth over 89 million hryvnias in total: 41.7 million UAH between August 2025 and September 2026 while at the OGP, and 48.2 million UAH between August 2023 and May 2025 while serving as deputy head of the Odesa Regional Administration. The laundering is alleged to have run through real estate purchases — including apartments in the Carpathians — jewelry, and funds placed in relatives' accounts. Under Operation "Carthage," five members of the criminal organization, which the investigation says was created in mid-2025, have been exposed; participants face up to 15 years in prison under Articles 255 and 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

A hearing on the preventive measure for Kropyva's partner Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko ("Муза" in the recordings) was postponed to September 7 at 9:00. NABU and SAP also conducted searches at premises linked to Prosecutor General Kravchenko, his deputy Vdovychenko, and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper, whose tenure overlaps Kropyva's time at the Odesa Regional Administration.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All eight sources covering the story are Ukrainian outlets, so framing observations are drawn from Ukrainian-language coverage. That coverage focuses on the legal procedure at ВАКС — the bail figure of 120 million UAH, the detention date of September 4, and the court's Sunday, September 6 decision — and on the political weight of searches at Prosecutor General Kravchenko, his deputy Vdovychenko, and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper. Ukrainian outlets also carry Kravchenko's public denials and the Office of the Prosecutor General's statement that the search ruling contains no data tying Kravchenko to facilitating call centers or receiving improper benefits, placing the institution's response alongside the allegations rather than treating either side as settled.

Where reporting differs

Two points are contested across the reporting. First, whether Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko is the "Shef Andriyovych" referenced on the NABU recordings: the investigation treats the figure as Kravchenko, while Kravchenko himself rejects the identification and denies any connection to the call-center scheme or to the publicized safe with currency. Second, the origin of the publicized photograph of the safe with money: NABU and SAP published it as part of "Carthage," whereas Kropyva's defense attorney Vitaliy Serdyuk says the image comes from a search in a separate, unrelated case.

Background

NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) and SAP (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office) ran Operation "Carthage" jointly; five participants have been exposed so far and face up to 15 years in prison under Articles 255 (creation or leadership of a criminal organization) and 209 (money laundering) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Kropyva's time at the Odesa Regional Administration overlaps with Oleh Kiper's tenure as head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, whose premises were also searched in connection with the case.