The High Anti-Corruption Court has ordered Serhiy Kropiva, Deputy Head of the Department of International Cooperation at the Office of the Prosecutor General, to remain in custody until 2 November, with an alternative bail set at 120 million hryvnias. He is suspected of covering up illegal call centres and laundering assets worth over 89 million hryvnias. Suspilne reported the court’s decision from the courtroom.
Briefly about the main points
- Kropiv will remain in custody until 2 November.
- The court set an alternative bail of 120 million hryvnias.
- The prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested bail of 200 million hryvnias.
- Investigators believe the official was involved in covering up fraudulent call centres.
- NABU announced that five members of the organisation had been exposed.
The prosecutor requested a higher bail amount
A prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested that Kropiva be remanded in custody, with bail set at 200 million hryvnias. The court set the amount at 80 million hryvnias, which was lower than the prosecution’s request.
The investigation’s version of events and the prosecutor’s statement in court
According to NABU According to the SAP, the official may have been involved in the systematic receipt of unlawful benefits in exchange for not obstructing the operations of fraudulent call centres, the victims of which were citizens of Ukraine and other countries. The NABU has provisionally classified the proceedings, in particular, under the articles concerning criminal organisations and the legalisation of property obtained by criminal means.
During the hearing on the application, the prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office also stated that Stinging nettle co-ordinated the renovation work at the Attorney General’s residence Ruslana Kravchenko in Kozin. This is the prosecutor’s statement, as made in court.
Investigative proceedings at the Office of the Prosecutor General
On 4 September, the media reported that searches had been carried out at the homes of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and his deputy Mariya Vdovichenko and the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleg Kipper; The Office of the Prosecutor General initially denied that searches had taken place at Kravchenko’s premises. In the evening, NABU carried out investigative measures at OGP as part of an operation to dismantle a criminal organisation.
The following day, the OGP confirmed that investigative measures had been carried out at the offices used by Kravchenko. The NABU and the SAP then announced that they had uncovered an organisation which, according to the investigation, was headed by one of the heads of the OGP’s structural units; the NABU reported that five participants had been identified. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, and being under suspicion does not imply guilt until a court has handed down a conviction.
