The Pechersk Court may send NABU head Kryvonos to a pretrial detention center as early as September 15 — sources say
A pretrial measure for NABU head Semen Kryvonos will be determined by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv in the near future. According to UA.News sources, the court will consider the motion as early as September 15, and sources do not rule out that the most severe measure—detention—will be imposed on the official.
Today, September 14, Kryvonos may be served with a notice of suspicion, the signing of which was previously announced by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
What Led Up to This
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko himself confirmed that he is abroad on a business trip. According to media reports, he departed at 2:30 a.m., which, given the legal regime of martial law, required appropriate authorization and approval from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On the eve of his departure, Kravchenko recorded a video message in which he claimed that a notice of suspicion had been signed against NABU Director Kryvonos and a close associate of SAPO Head Oleksandr Klymenko. The head of the Bureau is accused of possibly forging documents to obtain unlawful benefits on an especially large scale and of fictitious adoption.
Although Kravchenko had previously submitted his resignation, he legally remains the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General until the Verkhovna Rada issues a corresponding decision.
Media outlets, citing sources in Bankova Street, report that the decision to place Kryvonos under suspicion was allegedly “not approved by the Office of the President,” and officials at the Office of the President assert that it “will be revoked.”
A Response to the “Carthage” Special Operation
Investigators speculate that the sudden rush to detain Kryvonos is an attempt to drown out the public outcry caused by the “Carthage” special operation conducted by NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). As part of that operation, a scheme was uncovered in which officials from the Office of the Prosecutor General were providing protection to illegal call centers.
Earlier, investigative journalists also reported on documents discovered at the OGP that indicated preparations for another attack on the anti-corruption hierarchy—namely, NABU and the SAP.
Previously, in an interview with UA.News, former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronevitsky provided a detailed account of what was happening within NABU and the SAPO. According to him, Semen Kryvonos had been charged with voter bribery. When the bribery case was sent to court, Kryvonos, hoping to qualify for the amnesty law in effect at the time, found a cashier at a store who allowed him to register as the fictitious father of her son, Maksym. At the time, the child was about one year old—he was born in 2008, and the case was heard in 2009. Thanks to this child, Bronevych believes, Kryvonos avoided any real punishment.
