Ukraine’s corruption investigation has initiated searches of the top leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). There were reported to be somewhere between 50 and 100 raids yesterday. NABU stated: “Under the protection of law enforcement, members of the organization facilitated the operation of fraudulent call centers targeting Ukrainian and foreign citizens, the sale of narcotics, as well as the illegal production of counterfeit cigarettes and forged foreign currency. In addition, they orchestrated planned assaults, kidnappings, and the infliction of bodily injuries in the interests of the criminal organization.”
According to Ukrinform, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) reported on Telegram: “As part of Operation Carthage, NABU and SAPO [Specialized Anti‑Corruption Prosecutor’s Office] have exposed a criminal organization whose members established a system of systematically paying bribes to senior law enforcement officials in exchange for allowing fraudulent call centers and other illegal businesses to operate unhindered.” Specifically, “current senior officials of the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as representatives of the criminal underworld, were involved in the criminal activity.” These include the Head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security, Col. Anton Kravchuk; the First Deputy Head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood (DPNS), Gen. Serhiy Duka; and Oleksandr Kovalchuk, the First Deputy Head of the DPNS’s Main Directorate “D.”
About six weeks ago, when fingered by NABU, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko fled the country. Now, from Vienna, he again defended the SBU and called NABU’s actions a political vendetta. He stressed that NABU was targeting the homes of the heads of departments who were investigating cases against the NABU director and the SAPO director’s entourage.
