Zelenskyy meets prosecutor general and ruling party faction leader over prosecutor general's possible dismissal – sources

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, on 7 September.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in political circles

Details: According to the sources, a decision on Kravchenko's continued tenure as prosecutor general is expected to be made following the meeting.

Previously: Speaking to journalists on 7 September, Kravchenko said that 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).

However, he said he is ready to leave office if the president initiates his dismissal or the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) makes a corresponding decision.

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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