Shabunin explained how those implicated in the Carthage case are being helped to evade accountability

Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, stated that attempts had been documented to drag out the court proceedings regarding the imposition of preventive measures on the defendants in the “Carthage” case, in order to give the suspects an opportunity to flee. 

According to him, during a hearing at the High Anti-Corruption Court regarding Serhiy Duka, the former first deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) Department for the Protection of National Statehood, journalists were initially barred from attending, and the SBU sent a letter requesting that the hearing be closed due to an alleged threat of a terrorist attack. Shabunin emphasized that the law allows 72 hours to determine a preventive measure, after which the suspect would have to be released, and they would simply flee. 

At the same time, two suspects have already been taken into custody, including Volodymyr Tsenov, deputy head of the National Police’s Department of Strategic Investigations, with an alternative bail set at 15 million UAH (about 363,000 USD), which, according to media reports, has already been paid—which, in the opinion of the head of the CPC, poses a high risk that the suspects will attempt to flee from justice.

Source: Channel 24.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has released photographs of smashed cell phones, which were likely destroyed during a search by General Serhiy Duka, a suspect in the “Carthage” case.

Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau detained General Serhiy Duka, first deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood.

Earlier, during investigative actions by the High Anti-Corruption Court, General Duka (according to other reports, his security detail) threatened detectives with a firearm and prevented them from conducting the search, and on the same day, searches were also conducted at the residence of Anton Kravchuk, head of the SBU’s Main Directorate for Internal Security.

As a reminder, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced that they had served notices of suspicion to five members of a criminal organization that had been exposed the day before during Operation “Carthage.” Among the suspects are the group’s organizer and high-ranking officials from the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police.