Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, has weighed in on the latest high-profile revelations by the country's anti-corruption agencies as part of Operation Carthage, which has uncovered alleged bribery at senior levels of law enforcement. He stressed that the situation "requires prompt and decisive action."
Writing on social media, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said: "Regarding yesterday's events, the law is the same for everyone. Positions, ranks and powers cannot be grounds for avoiding accountability."
"Corruption and any other crimes must be properly assessed under the law, and those responsible must be held accountable," he added.
Budanov did not specify what measures he had in mind when calling for decisive action, and did not elaborate on what form such action should take. He said only that he expected an objective, independent investigation and fair decisions in the case.
His remarks came a day after it emerged, on 4 November, that searches had been conducted involving representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the police. The searches formed part of Operation Carthage, which has produced high-profile revelations about alleged corruption within Ukraine's own law enforcement bodies.
Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), working under the procedural supervision of prosecutors from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), served five members of a criminal organisation with notices of suspicion. The group is accused of setting up a system in which bribes were regularly paid to senior law enforcement officials so that fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses could operate without interference.
According to the pre-trial investigation, the organiser of the criminal group was Andrii Osipov, a man who had previously been convicted on multiple occasions. He is alleged to have recruited serving senior officials from the SSU, the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Police, as well as figures from the criminal underworld, to take part in the illegal activities.
Investigators said this protection allowed fraudulent call centres targeting both Ukrainian citizens and foreigners to operate freely. Other illegal activities covered by the network included drug trafficking, the illegal manufacture of counterfeit cigarettes and the production of counterfeit foreign currency.
Members of the criminal organisation are also suspected of involvement in assaults, abductions and inflicting bodily harm on individuals in the interests of the group, investigators established.
