Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko publishes notice of suspicion against head of anti-corruption agency

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has published the notice of suspicion issued against Semen Kryvonos, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), which is over 30 pages long. The prosecutor general stated that in 2008, Kryvonos engaged in the forgery of documents, which constitutes an offence under Articles 358.2 and 358.3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Source: Ruslan Kravchenko on social media

Quote: "I have informed Semen Yuriiovych Kryvonos that he is suspected of the following:

• forgery of a document which was issued by an institution and confers rights, with the intention of its use by the forger, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons – namely, the commission of a criminal offence under Article 358.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended on 11 June 2009)
• the use of a knowingly forged document – namely, the commission of a criminal offence under Article 358.3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended on 11 June 2009)
• soliciting an unlawful benefit on an especially large scale for himself and third parties from an official holding a position of responsibility, in exchange for actions performed by said official in the interests of the provider of the unlawful benefit through the abuse of their official position, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons – namely, the commission of a criminal offence under Article 368.4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended on 23 October 2014)
• arranging for the drafting and issuance by an appraiser of a knowingly forged official document certifying specific facts that carry legal significance and confer specific rights or release from duties, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons – namely, the commission of a criminal offence under Article 27.3 and Article 358.3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as amended on 23 October 2014)"

Details: The prosecutor general claims that while campaigning for Yuliia Tymoshenko in 2007, Kryvonos resorted to bribing students at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and that when criminal proceedings were later opened regarding his actions, he submitted a certificate confirming that he has a minor child in order to evade punishment.

Kravchenko asserts that Kryvonos arranged a fictitious adoption, and accordingly forged documents.

In the notice of suspicion he has also claimed that in 2014, Kryvonos was involved in a scheme to appropriate land plots in the Obukhiv district in Kyiv Oblast, and that he assisted the head of the Starobezradychi village council in extorting a US$72,000 bribe from a man seeking to have a plot of land allocated to him.

Kravchenko has also claimed that in the course of NABU and SAPO's search at the Prosecutor General's Office, detectives seized "files from criminal proceedings against NABU and SAPO employees, including materials from covert investigative [search] actions".

This news has been updated since publication.

Background:

• Kravchenko said earlier that he had signed a notice of suspicion against NABU director Semen Kryvonos and accused NABU and SAPO [the Specialised Anti-Сorruption Prosecutor's Office] of unlawfully seizing materials relating to cases against their employees in the course of searches conducted as part of Operation Carthage in order to prevent procedural decisions in those cases.
• Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on parliament to urgently approve Kravchenko's resignation as prosecutor general.
• Ukrainska Pravda reported that according to sources in law enforcement, Kravchenko left Ukraine in an official vehicle on the night of 13-14 September. Kravchenko confirmed that he had travelled abroad but said that he was on an official trip.

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