President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not yet held any meetings with candidates for the post of Prosecutor General. He said this on 25 September during an audio briefing with journalists.
He did not answer directly whether he plans to submit the candidacy of the current acting Prosecutor General, Anton Kovalskyi, for a full appointment. The Prosecutor General’s Office has been left without a fully fledged head since the dismissal of Ruslan Kravchenko, who left the country on the night before a statement was issued about signing a notice of suspicion against the head of NABU.
“As for candidates for the post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine, I have not held a single meeting or any communication yet,” he said.
Context
On 4 September, NABU and SAP reported that they had uncovered a criminal group operating within the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to the investigation, Serhiy Kropyva, a deputy head of one of the departments, organised protection for the operations of fraudulent call centres in exchange for bribes, and also laundered funds.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko denied any involvement and accused NABU and SAP of allegedly obtaining access during searches at the Prosecutor General’s Office to documents relating to their colleagues.
On the night of 14 September, Ruslan Kravchenko left the country under the pretext of a business trip to a PACE session in Paris. Then, already in the morning, a video was published on the Prosecutor General’s official pages with a statement about signing a notice of suspicion against NABU Director Semen Kryvonos and a “close associate” of SAP head Oleksandr Klymenko.
That same day, the President signed a decree suspending Kravchenko from the post of Prosecutor General. The Verkhovna Rada voted for his dismissal on 15 September, and the President formalised that decision with a corresponding decree.
Before his official dismissal, Kravchenko managed to publish several more posts and videos with accusations against Semen Kryvonos. However, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that no notice of suspicion had been issued to the NABU Director.
Kravchenko said he had sent it by post. The head of Ukrposhta said the Prosecutor General paid for the letter in cash, even though there is an agreement between the postal operator and the Prosecutor General’s Office for cashless payments.
Kravchenko did not return to Ukraine after the end of his business trip. He was dismissed from his position as a prosecutor at the Prosecutor General’s Office.