The Prosecutor General’s Office has concluded an internal investigation into its former head, Ruslan Kravchenko. The investigation found the official guilty of abusing his position for personal purposes.
This was reported by acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalskyi, Suspilne writes.
According to Kovalskyi, Kravchenko used an invitation to the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to travel abroad. The invitation had been addressed to Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Lohachov. He declined it, and the PGO’s international department informed PACE accordingly.
The travel order was prepared and signed by Kravchenko himself, even though he should have involved the Prosecutor General’s Office’s Department of International Cooperation.
“When they came to Kravchenko’s office on 14 September, they found the official seal (of the Prosecutor General’s Office) and an envelope. Inside the envelope was the travel order signed by him and a copy of it,” Kovalskyi said.
He added that the internal investigation identified violations by Kravchenko of a number of departmental regulatory legal acts. According to the acting Prosecutor General, the former head should face disciplinary action.
At the same time, Kravchenko caused no material damage to the Prosecutor General’s Office. In particular, the investigation did not establish that he used official vehicles for the trip abroad.
Kovalskyi added that the question of whether to hold Ruslan Kravchenko criminally liable falls within the remit of NABU and SAPO, which are conducting a criminal investigation into corruption at the PGO known as Operation “Carthage”.
NABU and SAPO Operation “Carthage”: What We Know
- On 5 September, NABU and SAPO exposed a criminal organisation operating within the Prosecutor General’s Office that provided cover for illegal call centres in exchange for bribes. The main suspect in the case, dubbed “Carthage”, is Serhii Kropyva, a deputy head of one of the departments. He is currently in custody along with other suspects.
- On 14 September, Kravchenko unexpectedly announced that he had signed a notice of suspicion for NABU Director Semen Kryvonos. It later emerged that he reported this only after he had left Ukraine on a “business trip” to Paris. Instead of Paris, the former official ultimately ended up in Austria — a country from which extradition to Ukraine is difficult.
- Only after his departure did the President suspend him, and the Verkhovna Rada backed his full dismissal. The PGO is conducting an internal investigation into the circumstances of his departure.
- Soon after leaving, Kravchenko began making accusatory statements against the anti-corruption bodies and the President.
- Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda reported that Kravchenko was in Austria. On 9 October, Austrian law enforcement detained the outlet’s representatives, Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko. Their phones were taken and they were held for more than half a day; force was used against Bondarenko.
- The Vienna Prosecutor’s Office said that the arrest of Ukrainian journalist Mykhailo Tkach in Austria was not ordered because of his profession, but because he was seen at a location that was also being watched by two men suspected of espionage.
- In total, four Ukrainians were detained. The journalists were released, but the other two citizens — as of the publication of the news on 13 October — were not. Austrian law enforcement did not specify who exactly had been detained.
- On 28 October, Ruslan Kravchenko made his first public post after a month of silence, in which he accused NABU and SAPO of organising a group that allegedly intended to carry out violent actions against him. The Bureau rejected these allegations and called them an attempt to secure protection for Kravchenko in the country where he is staying.