Anti-Corruption Court Orders Detention For PGO Official Kropyva With UAH 120M Bail Alternative

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The decision was announced by investigating judge Viktor Maslov on Sunday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The motion to detain suspect Serhii Vasyliovych Kropyva has been partially granted. A preventive measure in the form of detention has been imposed, with an alternative of UAH 120 million bail. The detention order shall remain in effect through November 2, 2026, inclusive," the judge said.

If bail is posted, the court has imposed a number of obligations on the suspect. He must appear at the first request of an investigator, prosecutor or investigating judge; report any change of residence; refrain from communicating with witnesses, including Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and his first deputy, Mariia Vdovychenko; surrender his international passports for safekeeping; and wear an electronic monitoring device.

During the hearing, a prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) asked the court to impose detention with an alternative of UAH 200 million bail.

Kropyva's defense team, in turn, asked the court to reject the motion, arguing that the suspicion notice was unsubstantiated and that it would be impossible to post such a large amount of bail.

The ruling may be appealed to the HACC's Appeals Chamber within five days of its announcement.

Read also: Prosecutor seeks detention for PGO official Kropyva with UAH 200M bail alternative

As reported, on September 4, SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said that, as part of Operation Carthage, they had uncovered a criminal organization headed by the head of one of the Prosecutor General's Office departments. The organization is accused of systematically receiving bribes from fraudulent call centers and laundering the proceeds.

According to investigators, the PGO official formed the group in mid-2025, involving serving prosecutors and close associates who were not officially affiliated with the office. The group imposed payments in exchange for allowing shadow call centers to operate without interference. The centers reportedly defrauded large numbers of Ukrainians and foreign nationals.

According to the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet, Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the Department of International Cooperation at the Prosecutor General's Office, was detained.

On September 5, the Prosecutor General's Office said that the nighttime searches conducted by NABU at the official premises of the PGO leadership, as well as detectives' access to materials from other criminal proceedings, should receive a legal assessment.

On September 6, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko issued a statement saying that he was not involved in providing cover for illegal call centers.

Kravchenko said he had suspended from official duties a PGO employee who appears in the NABU investigation and had instructed officials to prepare a personnel decision on the employee's dismissal in accordance with the procedure established by law.

At the same time, he stressed that the employee's guilt would ultimately be determined by a court.

Kravchenko also said he would not limit the response to a single personnel decision and had ordered an inspection of the Department of International Cooperation, where the person under investigation worked, as well as the unit responsible for combating cybercrime. The review will examine decisions that were made and the results of the units' work.

He ordered all employees of structural units involved in the procedural supervision and investigation of cases concerning illegal call centers to undergo polygraph tests. He stressed that personnel and administrative decisions would be made based on the results of the inspections and, where warranted, criminal-procedural measures would also be taken.

Kravchenko also said that the safe shown in a photo being circulated in the media and on social networks is not located at the Prosecutor General's Office.

Photo: Suspilne

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