Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities said today that they are investigating senior officials from the security and law enforcement agencies on suspicion that they systematically accepted bribes to provide protection to fraudulent call centers and other illegal activities, Reuters and Ukrinform reported, as cited by the Bulgarian News Agency.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said that, during the operation publicly announced for the first time in September, they had established the alleged involvement in corruption schemes of serving senior officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as representatives of organized crime.
“As part of Operation Carthage, NABU and SAPO uncovered a criminal organization whose members had established a scheme for systematically bribing senior law enforcement officials. In return, fraudulent call centers and other illegal businesses were able to operate without hindrance,” NABU said on Telegram, as cited by Ukrinform.
Early this morning, NABU reported that a high-ranking SBU official had threatened to use a firearm and obstructed investigators from the anti-corruption bureau from accessing premises where a search was to be conducted, Ukrinform reported.
“While NABU investigators were carrying out lawful investigative actions on the basis of a ruling by a judge from the High Anti-Corruption Court, one of the senior SBU officials threatened to use a firearm and prevented the investigators from entering the premises they were supposed to search,” the statement said.
NABU also reported that SBU special forces officers had arrived at the scene, Ukrinform added.
The investigation has already led to the resignation of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, after the authorities accused one of his subordinates of taking part in running the criminal network, which investigators say carried out fraud against both Ukrainian and foreign citizens. Kravchenko himself has not been charged.
Fighting corruption at the highest levels of government is crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to join the European Union and continue receiving vital financial assistance from international donors, which is helping it resist the Russian invasion, now in its fifth year, Reuters notes. NABU and SAPO are conducting a number of investigations into senior officials in cases that have shaken the country’s political elite.
The Security Service of Ukraine confirmed in a statement that searches linked to its employees were being conducted and said it was cooperating with the investigation.
The National Police said it had suspended the employees who are the subject of the investigation, while calling for no “hasty conclusions” to be drawn.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said it was ready to assist the investigation but had no information about illegal actions by the employees identified by NABU as being involved in the case.
Separately today, NABU said it had completed the pre-trial investigation in the main case under Operation Midas—one of the largest corruption cases in Ukraine since the start of the war, linked to an alleged scheme involving the receipt of bribes and money laundering in the energy sector, Reuters and Ukrinform reported.
Those suspected in the case include a former deputy prime minister and a former energy minister. The investigation also led to the removal of Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff. All of them deny any wrongdoing.
According to NABU, participants in the scheme systematically received bribes from contractors holding contracts with state-owned energy companies, including the nuclear power company Energoatom. The illegal payments amounted to between 10% and 15% of the value of the contracts.
According to the investigation, between 2020 and 2025, more than $111 million and €12 million in cash were transferred from the energy sector to a special unit of the criminal organization responsible for laundering the illegally acquired funds. Investigators established that the organization also received funds from other sources.
Various financial instruments were used to launder the money, including cryptocurrencies, securities and a foreign investment fund.
During the investigation, NABU and SAPO took steps to freeze the criminal organization’s assets both in Ukraine and abroad. Efforts to identify and freeze additional assets will continue.
A number of other criminal proceedings have been separated from the main case. Investigations continue into the giving and receiving of bribes in the energy sector, as well as money-laundering schemes benefiting other individuals, NABU said.
Ukraine ranks 104th among 182 countries and territories in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index of the international organization Transparency International, with countries at the bottom of the ranking perceived as the most corrupt.