Update: Anti-corruption agency detains top prosecutor amid probe into scam call centers
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Editor's note: This story is being updated.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said on Sept. 4 that it was "conducting an operation targeting a criminal organization led by an official from Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office."
The criminal organization is "involved in protecting a network of scam call centers and laundering illicit assets," the NABU said.
The NABU detained Serhiy Kropyva, a deputy head of the international cooperation department at the Prosecutor General's Office, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.
"The Prosecutor General’s Office employee whose possible involvement in illegal activity is under investigation will be suspended from his duties for the duration of the pretrial investigation," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said it would "fully cooperate with the anti-corruption authorities and provide them with all necessary information in accordance with the law."
The latest investigation comes as the NABU steps up its anti-corruption efforts.
It follows an August money laundering and corporate raiding case involving President Volodymyr Zelensky's former deputy chief of staff, Iryna Mudra.
The Mudra case is linked to last year’s probe into state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom — the largest corruption investigation of Zelensky’s tenure. The case also came on the heels of corruption charges against Zelensky’s former Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak in May.
