Ukraine's Prosecutor General Kravchenko says he has no plans to resign amid corruption scandal

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has said he has no plans to resign amid the scandal which has arisen following the publication of materials from Operation Carthage, an investigation being conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

Source: Kravchenko speaking to journalists on 7 September, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda's correspondent

Quote from Kravchenko: "I don't feel I have to do that. There is a procedure: the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament – ed.] can vote, and the president can initiate my dismissal. Should they do so, I will of course comply. I am not clinging to my position.

But there's also the team. I cannot accomplish anything without the team. If the whole team decides I should resign, then I will in that case as well."

Details: Kravchenko also said that he has been summoned to a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada's law enforcement committee on 8 September and plans to speak to the press afterwards.

Kravchenko said he also has a meeting scheduled with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Background:

• On 4 September, Ukrainska Pravda reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) were conducting searches at the premises of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Mariia Vdovychenko and Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration. The Prosecutor General's Office initially denied that a search had been conducted at Kravchenko's home or office.
• On the evening of 4 September, it was reported that NABU and SAPO were conducting investigative actions at the Prosecutor General's Office as part of a special operation to expose a criminal organisation.
• On 5 September, the Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed that NABU detectives had carried out searches at offices used by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his first deputy Mariia Vdovychenko and other staff from the Prosecutor General's Office at around midnight.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources in business circles, NABU and SAPO detained Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the International Legal Cooperation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office.
• On 5 September, NABU and SAPO announced that they had uncovered a criminal organisation which investigators said is headed by the head of a department at the Prosecutor General's Office. Members of the organisation are suspected of regularly taking bribes from scam call centres and money laundering. Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that the department head in question is Serhii Kropyva.
• On 6 September, Kropyva was remanded in custody with bail set at UAH 120 million (US$2.7 million).
• On 7 September, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a pre-trial restriction on 24-year-old Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko, a suspect in NABU's Operation Carthage investigation into the alleged protection of scam call centres, ordering 60 days' detention with bail set at UAH 20 million (US$450,000).
• Serhii Kropyva's driver, Serhii Kutsyi, has also been remanded in custody with bail set at UAH 3 million (US$67,500).

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