Ukraine's prosecutor general defends delay in letting anti-corruption raid proceed and reveals what was seized – video

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has explained that security staff initially did not let detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) into the Prosecutor General's Office (OPG) building to carry out searches because they did not disclose which specific offices they intended to search.

Source: Kravchenko at a press conference on 7 September

Details: In response to a question about the searches at the OPG, Kravchenko said that officers from the State Guard Directorate initially did not let the NABU detectives in because the detectives were unwilling to show them the search warrants or say exactly which offices they were heading to.

Quote from Kravchenko: "The officers had search warrants for my office and my deputy's office, but at first they refused to show them because they didn't want us to know where they had come to search.

At around midnight, I spoke with the heads of both NABU and SAPO [the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office – ed.]. I called and asked what was going on. They said they had authorisation to search my office and were going to carry out the search.

I said: 'Okay, everything will be opened for you – the office, the room, the safes.' I gave the order, the investigators were let in, and they conducted all the searches."

More details: Kravchenko said he also asked the heads of the anti-corruption agencies whether he should expect his home to be searched.

Quote from Kravchenko: "I was told I'd find out about everything through the proper channels. Then I got a message that an investigator was outside my house. I asked them not to break the door down or break the locks and to wait for my wife, who was already on her way and would open everything for them. The investigators waited, and my wife showed them everything."

More details: Kravchenko also revealed exactly what the detectives seized during the search of his office.

Quote from Kravchenko: "Not much was taken from me: some new empty envelopes, and four Canali gift vouchers worth UAH 50,000 (about US$1,125) each, which I can easily afford on my salary.

They also seized an identification code and other data from my personal file in the reception area."

More details: Kravchenko said that during the searches, the NABU detectives also gained access to case files featuring, among others, employees of the anti-corruption agencies.

Quote from Kravchenko: "There was nothing in my office, but my staff reported to me that in their offices there were files relating to NABU employees, as well as files relating to employees of other law enforcement agencies. And the NABU investigators gained access to those materials.

But I can't disclose what those files are because I'm not the prosecutor assigned to those proceedings and I haven't been given permission to disclose them."

Background:

• On 4 September, Ukrainska Pravda reported that NABU and 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 Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that detectives from NABU had carried out searches at offices used by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
• Ukrainska Pravda sources in business circles said NABU and SAPO had 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 was 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 laundering the proceeds of crime. Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that the department head in question was 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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