Anti-corruption court detains prosecutor's office official in "Carthage" call-center case

Why it matters

The case goes beyond a single corruption prosecution: it places a senior official of the Office of the Prosecutor General at the center of an alleged scheme to shield fraudulent call centers and launder their proceeds, and it raises direct questions about the conduct of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko himself, including his personal relationship with the suspect. Because the Prosecutor General's Office is one of the bodies responsible for combating organized crime, allegations that its own officials enabled such a scheme strike at the credibility of Ukraine's law-enforcement institutions at a moment when anti-corruption reform is under intense public and international scrutiny.

What happened

On 4 September 2026, NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) announced "Operation Carthage," an operation they said exposed a criminal organization created in mid-2025 that systematically took bribes from fraudulent call centers and laundered the proceeds. The group was led by an official of the Office of the Prosecutor General, identified in NABU materials as Serhiy Kropyva under the alias "Chancellor." Five suspects were notified under Article 255 (creation and leadership of a criminal organization) and Article 209 (laundering of property) of Ukraine's Criminal Code, carrying up to 15 years' imprisonment.

On 6 September, a judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) placed Kropyva in custody with an alternative bail of 120 million UAH; the SAP prosecutor had requested 200 million UAH. During the bail hearing, the prosecutor read out investigation materials alleging that Kropyva organized and coordinated repairs at a house in Kozyn, Kyiv Oblast, where Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko lives — installing a gas generator, video surveillance system and internet — and that he helped arrange a US visa for Kravchenko's wife and organized Kravchenko's birthday celebration in Madrid, including hotel and restaurant bookings and the flights of Kravchenko's wife and cohabitant to Spain. Investigators said a recorded 4 March 2026 conversation between Kropyva and Kravchenko showed Kropyva was a "trusted person" of the Prosecutor General.

Also on 6 September, Prosecutor General Kravchenko published a statement denying any involvement in covering up illegal call centers. He said he had suspended the OGP employee named in the case, ordered preparation of a decision to dismiss him, ordered an audit of the Department of International Cooperation, where the suspect worked, and of the cybercrime unit, and called for polygraph tests of relevant staff. He also denied media reports that he had temporarily disappeared. NABU and SAP are reported by sources to have conducted searches on the night of 4–5 September at service premises used by OGP leadership; the OGP later acknowledged those searches but its spokesperson said no searches were carried out at Kravchenko's home or office.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All eight sources in the supplied set are Ukrainian outlets and agencies (Ukrainska Pravda, ZN.UA, NV, LIGA.net, LB.ua, Babel, Ukrinform, Interfax-Ukraine). The coverage focuses tightly on Ukrainian institutions — NABU, SAP, the High Anti-Corruption Court and the Office of the Prosecutor General — and on the domestic political implications of a criminal case inside the prosecutor's office itself. No international outlets appear in the supplied set, so the framing here is entirely that of the Ukrainian press.

Where reporting differs

Sources disagree on several points. Kropyva's exact title at the OGP is given variously as head of the cyber department or deputy head of the Department of International Cooperation. Kravchenko's birthday is given as either 4 March or 14 March, which affects the timing of the recorded conversation cited by prosecutors. There is a direct conflict over whether searches were conducted at Kravchenko personally: Ukrainska Pravda sources reported searches at Kravchenko, his deputy Mariya Vdovychenko and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper, while OGP spokesperson Mariana Haiovska said no investigative actions were carried out at Kravchenko's home or office on the evening of 4 September. Finally, media reported that Kravchenko was unreachable for over 12 hours on the day of the bail hearing, with ZN.UA sources saying he was at the Dobrobut clinic in Kyiv; Kravchenko publicly denied the disappearance reports.

Background

Before his appointment as Prosecutor General, Ruslan Kravchenko headed the State Tax Service from December 2024 to June 2025. Lesya Karnaukh has been acting head of the State Tax Service since then. According to NABU recordings cited in the case, a figure referred to as "Boss" and addressed as "Andriyovych" — identified by investigators as a former head of the State Tax Service — allegedly retained influence over the tax service and helped appoint a loyal deputy head of the STS.