SAPO prosecutor details Kropyva’s friendship with Kravchenko in court
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Serhii Kropyva in court during a hearing to determine his pretrial restrictions. (Photo: Anti-Corruption Action Center via Telegram)
During a hearing to determine a pretrial measure for Serhii
Kropyva, a figure in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Carthage operation
and deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s Office Department of International
Cooperation, a Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor
described Kropyva’s friendship with Prosecutor
General Ruslan Kravchenko.
The Anti-Corruption
Action Center and journalist Mykhailo
Tkach reported the details on their Telegram channels.
The Anti-Corruption Action Center said the recordings appear
to show that Kropyva arranged renovation work at the house in Kozyn where
Kravchenko lives, including installing a gas generator there.
An excerpt from an audio recording of the SAPO prosecutor’s
remarks in court, published by Tkach,
also says Kropyva arranged flights to Spain for Kravchenko’s wife and partner
shortly before the prosecutor general traveled there on official business.
“Liza and this girl — they actually need to be on separate
invoices,” Kropyva says on the recordings.
The prosecutor also quoted a conversation in which Kropyva
and Kravchenko discussed a restaurant reservation ahead of the prosecutor
general’s business trip and his birthday, which he celebrates on March 14.
The SAPO prosecutor also cited a conversation between
Kropyva and Kravchenko in which they discussed booking rooms at an expensive
hotel in Madrid for Kravchenko and those accompanying him, as well as booking
something cheaper nearby for the official report, the Anti-Corruption Action
Center reported.
“Yes, boss, everything’s great. Andrieich, yes, of course, I
bought everything, we did everything. If anything needs to be changed, it will
be. We’re completely ready for the whole thing. Maybe we should look for
something more budget-friendly for this whole thing. All right, then I’m
booking it. Should I book one for you too? Then I’ll book mine now,” Kropyva
says during the conversation with Kravchenko.
He also says that “we can go beyond any limits.”
“We used to rent places for 130 euros. But they didn’t say
you could rent whatever you want. They’ll give us a list by tomorrow,” Kropyva
tells Kravchenko.
NABU’s Operation Carthage
On Sept. 4, NABU announced a special operation targeting a
criminal organization allegedly led by an employee of the Prosecutor General’s
Office. Ukrainska Pravda sources said NABU
and SAPO detained Serhii Kropyva, head of the Prosecutor General’s Office
cyber department. NABU and SAPO said the Prosecutor General’s Office official
may have been involved in “shielding” a network of fraudulent call centers and
laundering assets.
The Prosecutor General’s Office later said it was ready to
fully cooperate with anti-corruption authorities investigating the possible
involvement of one of its employees in illegal activity linked to fraudulent
call centers.
Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources, reported that NABU and
SAPO conducted searches involving Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his
deputy Mariia Vdovychenko and Odesa Oblast Military Administration head Oleh
Kiper.
NABU said five people had been implicated in proceedings
under Article 255 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, covering the creation or
leadership of a criminal organization and participation in one, and Article
209, covering the legalization, or laundering, of assets. Those convicted face
up to 15 years in prison.
The Prosecutor General’s Office denied reports that Ruslan
Kravchenko was searched on the evening of Sept. 4. Prosecutor General’s Office
spokesperson Mariana Haiovska, commenting to
Ukrainska Pravda, said no investigative actions had been conducted either
at the prosecutor general’s home or in his office.
On Sept. 5, the Prosecutor General’s Office said
that “around midnight, NABU detectives nevertheless conducted investigative
actions in offices used by the prosecutor general, the first deputy prosecutor
general, as well as other employees and departments of the Prosecutor General’s
Office.”
The office also said the court order regarding the searches
at the Prosecutor General’s Office contained no information that Kravchenko had
instructed anyone to facilitate the operation of call centers, obstructed their
exposure or investigation, warned anyone about planned investigative actions,
received money from such activity or any improper benefit, or used criminal
proceeds to pay for renovations, the installation of a security system or other
services.
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