Fraudulent call centers that extort money from Ukrainians and foreigners over the phone are a well-known problem in Eastern Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is new is the suspicion that employees of the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office allegedly did not combat this business but protected it in exchange for payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) published investigation details of an operation codenamed \u201eCarthage\u201c in September 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to investigators, call centers paid money monthly to representatives of the system; in return, law enforcement was supposed to take no action against them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources from \u201eUkrainska Pravda\u201c speak of around 7,000 US dollars per month and call center. With up to 500 protected call centers at the peak of development in this year, this would result in a potential of up to 3.5 million US dollars (around 3 million euros) in bribery payments monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian media outlets such as Schemes and Ukrainska Pravda describe Serhii Kropyva as an important figure, who previously worked as deputy head of the department for international legal cooperation in the office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The High Anti-Corruption Court ordered his detention on September 6 and set bail of 120 million hryvnia, equivalent to around 2.5 million euros. A 24-year-old suspect named Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko as well as Kropyvas's driver Serhii Kutsyi were also arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case becomes explosive through its connection to General Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko himself. According to a SAPO prosecutor, Kropyva was supposed to have taken on tasks that went beyond a normal professional relationship: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He allegedly coordinated renovation work on a house in the Kyiv upscale suburb of Kozyn used by Kravchenko, helped organize a US visa for his wife, and organized the General Prosecutor's birthday party in Madrid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These entanglements raise the question of how independently the country's top prosecuting authority operates from the very people it is supposed to oversee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the EU, the case is relevant because Ukrainian call centers regularly also contact citizens in EU countries, for example in investment and crypto fraud. Austrian consumer protection agencies have been registering cases with connections to the region for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigations such as \u201eCarthage\u201c thus also address the question of how effective cross-border cooperation between Ukrainian and European law enforcement authorities functions, a topic that is explicitly negotiated as part of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations under the chapter on justice and fundamental rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All named persons are presumed innocent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n